PKK leader Öcalan’s fellow inmate Veysi Aktaş released after 31 years in prison

Veysi Aktaş, one of the prisoners held at the İmralı island prison alongside Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, was released from prison on Jul 25 after serving over 31 years and 3 months.

Aktaş, who was convicted in 1994 for “disrupting the unity of the state,” had completed the 30-year minimum required for his sentence last year. However, his release was delayed twice by the prison administration, first by one year and then by an additional three months.

Following his release, Aktaş traveled to his hometown of Diyarbakır, where he was met by a crowd with applause and ululations.

Addressing the gathering, he conveyed Öcalan’s greetings and message. “Serok said, ‘We will turn İmralı Island into an island of peace’,” Aktaş remarked, using the Kurdish term “Serok” meaning “leader.”

Aktaş had been transferred to İmralı in 2015 as part of a secretariat established for Öcalan during the previous unsuccessful peace initiative between 2013 and 2015. He was moved there along with four other inmates: Mehmet Sait Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar, Çetin Arkaş, and Nasrullah Kuran.

Aktaş’s release comes amid a renewed Kurdish peace process. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, the main ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, initiated the new process in October, suggesting that Öcalan could become eligible for “right to hope,” a legal mechanism that could eventually lead to conditional release, in exchange for the PKK’s disbandment.

After a series of meetings with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, Öcalan, called on the organization to dissolve itself in late February.

In line with Öcalan’s appeal, the PKK announced its decision to dissolve itself following a congress held in May and initiated a disarmament process with a symbolic ceremony in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq on Jul 11.

(VK)