ANKARA – Feminist political scientist Françoise Vergès, expressing her support for Abdullah Öcalan’s recent call, stated that Kurds and Turks stand at a historic crossroads, emphasizing that "peace must be unconditionally supported."

 

Feminist political scientist, historian, and filmmaker Françoise Vergès sent a letter to the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party regarding the Peace and Democratic Society Process that began following the Peace and Democratic Society Call made by Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

 

In her letter, Françoise Vergès stated the following: “On February 27, 2025, Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê – PKK), issued a historic call for the dissolution of the organization and an end to the armed struggle. This call followed a highly symbolic moment in which Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), publicly shook hands with Kurdish parliamentarians and openly called on Abdullah Öcalan to lead the dissolution of the PKK. These steps marked the beginning of a new peace process, one that has sparked both expectations and hope.”

 

‘KURDS AND TURKS ARE AT A HISTORIC CROSSROADS’

 

Kurds and Turks stand at a historic crossroads. At its 12th Congress held in May, the PKK unanimously endorsed the founding leader’s call. A symbolic ceremony was held in Sulaymaniyah on July 11, where weapons were burned. A parliamentary commission was established to lay the legal foundation of the peace process, and its work continues. Peace must be unconditionally supported. A lasting and just peace should not be viewed merely as a truce between two wars, but rather as one that ensures social stability and fulfills the people’s longing for justice and equality. Peace is the only real alternative to perpetual war and to the imperialist agendas of global and regional powers.

 

REFERENCING ÖCALAN’S WORDS

 

Progressive and democratic forces across the world must contribute to this historic Kurdish-Turkish alliance on national, regional, and international levels. Current conditions have made this unity a historical necessity. As Abdullah Öcalan has said: ‘We believe not in violence and conflict, but in the power of democratic politics and societal peace.’ In a time when violence and genocide are escalating globally, the peace process in Turkey is not only necessary, but urgent.”

 

WHO IS FRANÇOISE VERGÈS?

 

Françoise Vergès is one of the leading figures of anti-colonial feminism in France and the author of A Decolonial Feminism, A Feminist History of Violence, and A Programme of Absolute Disorder. She is also a senior research fellow at the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation at University College London.