Remarkable request from PKK leader Öcalan: He wants to meet with Özgür Özel! He reportedly sent a letter to Mazlum Abdi

DEM Party Diyarbakır MP and journalist-author Cengiz Çandar made striking statements. According to Çandar, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan wants to meet with CHP leader Özgür Özel. Stating that Öcalan said, “My concern is not the AK Party or the People's Alliance, but the Turkish state. And the Republican People's Party is also like the state,” Çandar noted that the emphasis on the CHP stood out very strongly in the recent meetings held in İmralı.

In addition to this, Çandar suggested that Turkey has contacts with YPG leader Mazlum Abdi.

Here are the highlights from the interview Cengiz Çandar gave to Cansu Çamlıbel from T24:

“Bahçeli and Erdoğan acted with intuition rather than visionary skills”

-Looking at the jargon of ‘strengthening the internal front’ that Devlet Bahçeli and his ruling partner Tayyip Erdoğan started using as of October 2024, does this mean they were expecting this war? Does it mean there was a foresight in the Republic of Turkey state that Israel could do everything we see as madness?

When I look at the power holders and decision-making centers of the Republic of Turkey, especially if we are to mention these names as two partners, I think Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Devlet Bahçeli acted with intuition rather than their visionary skills. I think the approach was as follows: “We are moving towards a historical phase where the region could become very open to Israel, and if the Kurdish card can be easily used by Israel in this phase, and especially if a Trump-led America stands on the same side as Israel, Turkey, as the largest geography where Kurds live and as a country whose issue has not been resolved, could be very negatively affected in a way that would affect its survival. Let's take the initiative. Let's secure the situation with our Kurds in such a way that we can already set a barrier against possible developments that could be against Turkey tomorrow.” The field where this will be reflected and implemented in the first degree is inevitably Syria, of course.

“There is no equation where Israel could attack Turkey”

-At the point reached, Devlet Bahçeli has clearly started to say, “Israel's next target is Turkey.” This argument is also frequently processed in public opinion and on television. Whether Israel would dare to go to war with Turkey is being seriously discussed. You also insistently say, “Israel, which is under NATO's protective shield, cannot attack NATO member Turkey.”

“I say there is no such equation.” It is indisputable that I am one of the last people among 86 million to say anything positive about Israel, given my own past, feelings, and thoughts. But we need to give a realistic answer to this question. Yes, Israel is genocidal; the genocide it is committing in Gaza today is already based on the foundation of its establishment through ethnic cleansing and the forced expulsion of a large part of the Palestinian people from their own lands. It was founded through ethnic cleansing and war, and it tries to exist through genocide and war. Even as a result of all this, Lebanon, Hamas, etc., were firing missiles at Israel every single day. The main survival problem exists for Israel by its very nature. And Iran, a huge state of 92 million with thousands of years of history, tells Israel, “I do not recognize your right to exist, I will wipe you off the map.” It is also constantly biting in the region through some of its allies. Geographical points that are hostile to Israel and that demonstrate this and take actions were Iran's operational area against Israel. And you say, “Iran, although it has not yet reached the level of possessing nuclear weapons.” If Iran has not reached that level, this makes the legitimacy of the Israeli attack that began on June 13, 2025, questionable. But it does not eliminate the reality of the threat perception in the eyes of Israel that Iran is a nuclear power. Is there such an equation that we can establish between Turkey and Israel, similar to the one between Iran and Israel? Did Turkey take a stance against Israel like Iran, saying, “I will wipe you off the map”?

“Let someone explain to me on what grounds Israel will attack Turkey!”

“Turkey has never had a stance against Israel like that of Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah”

-No, not only did it never take such an attitude, but Turkey is one of the first countries to recognize the state of Israel.

It is one of the first countries to recognize it, yes. Secondly, I said it in Parliament: Erdoğan hosted Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York on September 20, 2023. That is, shortly before the October 7 attack. Israeli and Turkish flags side by side. A joint press conference was held. Hakan Fidan is sitting there, İbrahim Kalın is sitting there. A week passes. President Tayyip Erdoğan tells journalists on the plane returning from Azerbaijan, “Netanyahu is coming to Turkey in the next few weeks.” The Hamas incident broke out on October 7, we know the rest. So, there is a President of the Republic of Turkey who gives the news as if it were a herald that Netanyahu would be accepted in Turkey just two weeks before October 7. The ruling group never likes it when these things are said.

Now, is Turkey's stance against Israel the same as Iran's? When did we, as Turkey, ever display such hostility? We did not. We stood up when it pursued this latest genocide policy in Gaza. But was a stance taken against Israel saying, “You are doing these things to the Palestinian people. At the first opportunity, I will show Turkey's power and crush you and destroy you”? No, there is no such thing. On the contrary, when the possibility of friction in Syria appeared, it was said, “We do not want to fight with Israel.” In other words, Turkey has never had a stance against Israel like Lebanon, Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah. Therefore, why would Israel attack such a Turkey? Let someone explain it to me.

“Öcalan also sent a letter to Mazlum Abdi before the February 27 statement”

-Öcalan, who founded an organization and fought against Turkey, and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, who never took up a weapon and fought, both clearly reveal that the future vision of the Kurdish political movement in Turkey is within Turkey, yes. However, the Iranian branch of the PKK, PJAK, for example, which was founded by Öcalan... took an open position in favor of Israel in the Israel-Iran war. In Syria, although the YPG/PYD does not take such an open position today, it has never hidden its contacts with Israel until today. Therefore, could things be heading towards a place where Öcalan cannot 100 percent control the parts of the organization he founded?

Mortgaging the future is a wrong thing to do as a political analyst, as a politician, and as a historian. As I said today, we are going through a passage and there is a situation in the region that is open to everything. Therefore, it is frankly not possible to answer the question by saying, “No, such a thing is not possible.” But the antidote to such a division is to strengthen Öcalan's hand and give him a more visible role. If you look at those 13-page final meeting notes you reminded me of, while talking about a status where Kurds in Syria can have their own identity and self-governance, he talks about doing this by reaching an agreement with Damascus. He already said these things in the letters he personally wrote to all the Kurdish leaders in the region.

-Then you are confirming that Öcalan sent a letter to YPG leader Mazlum Abdi before his February 27, 2025 call.

Yes, he wrote to him too. Moreover, Mazlum Abdi said something else in an interview published yesterday. Or rather, the question was asked as follows; “It is said that Öcalan wants to meet with you in İmralı. Is it true?” Mazlum Abdi's answer is, “I would be honored to go to İmralı and meet with him.”

“Turkey and the SDF denied it, but according to my information, Mazlum Abdi is meeting with İbrahim Kalın, albeit in a limited way”

-Of course, what you are saying means that the Republic of Turkey state, which is searching for Mazlum Abdi with a red notice as the ‘number one terrorist,’ is allowing him to go to İmralı instead of arresting him when he sets foot on our soil, which would be a quite radical move. Do you think the state can reach that point?

But Mazlum Abdi already says that he has communication with the Turkish state, albeit limited.

-Turkey, however, denied this claim in clear language.

It denied it, but I know it is true. I know it from someone to whom Mazlum Abdi conveyed this as information. I even took the Foreign Ministry's denial as a necessity. Such denials are not actually denials. Especially if the denial is made through official channels, it is usually a confirmation of the truth. And then there was a denial from the SDF itself. When I saw that, I thought there was an effort on the SDF side like, “Something is going on right now, let's not spoil it. Let's camouflage the contact.”

-Then perhaps the people Mazlum Abdi is meeting with on the Turkish side could be high-level?

If the information I have is not wrong, it is already high-level. Even with the echelon that carries out the contact with Öcalan, with the personality that carries out the contact with Öcalan.

-With MIT Undersecretary İbrahim Kalın?

I received information similar to that. But of course, if it is a lie, both can come out and say ‘it is a lie.’ By the way, if you noticed in the meeting notes, Öcalan complains about an ‘Arab lobby’ in Syria. By this, he means Saudi Arabia. So, he is not actually saying to the YPG, “Go and surrender to Muhammed el-Şara. Give up your weapons” or anything. He says, “Strengthen local democracy.”

“In Sırrı Süreyya and Pervin Buldan's first visit to İmralı, he emphasized the CHP so much that Sırrı called Özgür Özel as soon as he returned”

-Why can Sezgin Tanrıkulu go instead of Özgür Özel?

The state probably doesn't want it. But Öcalan cares a lot about the Republican People's Party. I would like to share an important piece of information I have right here. In the first visit Sırrı Süreyya (Önder) and Pervin (Buldan) made to İmralı in November, Öcalan talks about the CHP so much. “There can be no solution without the CHP. A commission must definitely be established in parliament and the CHP must be active,” he says. Upon this, Sırrı Süreyya calls Özgür Özel as soon as he returns from İmralı. “We just came from İmralı, he talked about you a lot,” he says. Özgür Özel is hesitant to accept the DEM Party delegation at that exact point, and upon this, he decides to accept them. In other words, Öcalan has been demanding from the very beginning that the Republican People's Party be a very important actor in the process.