Who Is the P.K.K. Leader Abdullah Ocalan?

Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of a Kurdish guerrilla movement that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for decades, has called on his fighters to lay down their arms and disband.

The rare message from Mr. Ocalan on Thursday raised the possibility that a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over four decades could finally end.

Who is Abdullah Ocalan?

Mr. Ocalan is the founder and leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has been battling the Turkish state. He has been in a Turkish prison for a quarter century.

The P.K.K. began as a secessionist group that sought to create an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, but more recently it has said it was seeking greater rights for Kurds inside Turkey. Turkey, the United States and other countries classify Mr. Ocalan as a terrorist and the P.K.K. as terror group for its attacks that have killed Turkish security forces and civilians.

But many of Turkey’s Kurds view Mr. Ocalan as a potent symbol of the struggle for Kurdish rights. And despite his imprisonment since Turkey convicted him in 1999 of leading an armed terrorist group, he wields great influence over the P.K.K. and its affiliated militias in Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of a Kurdish guerrilla movement that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for decades, has called on his fighters to lay down their arms and disband.

The rare message from Mr. Ocalan on Thursday raised the possibility that a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over four decades could finally end.

Who is Abdullah Ocalan?

Mr. Ocalan is the founder and leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has been battling the Turkish state. He has been in a Turkish prison for a quarter century.

The P.K.K. began as a secessionist group that sought to create an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, but more recently it has said it was seeking greater rights for Kurds inside Turkey. Turkey, the United States and other countries classify Mr. Ocalan as a terrorist and the P.K.K. as terror group for its attacks that have killed Turkish security forces and civilians.

But many of Turkey’s Kurds view Mr. Ocalan as a potent symbol of the struggle for Kurdish rights. And despite his imprisonment since Turkey convicted him in 1999 of leading an armed terrorist group, he wields great influence over the P.K.K. and its affiliated militias in Syria, Iraq and Iran.