The PKK’s Ideological Odyssey

Abstract

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been the dominant actor in Kurdish politics in Turkey since the early 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s, the PKK organized a guerrilla insurgency against the Turkish state and managed to mobilize many Kurds. However, in 1999, after its leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured by Turkey, the PKK began to undergo a radical ideological transformation that has significantly altered the movement’s long-term objectives and the demands for the Kurds. This article will focus on the ideological evolution of the PKK and discuss the reasons behind the transformation in its political objectives from national liberation through armed struggle to radical democracy and the resolution of the Kurdish question through ‘democratic confederalism’ and ‘democratic autonomy’.