Ocalan's cellmate freed as Turkiye renews Kurdish peace efforts
Turkish authorities have released Veysi Aktas, a longtime cellmate of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), amid renewed efforts to revive peace talks between Ankara and the group.
Although Aktas was due for release on April 28, 2024, the Imrali Prison Directorate and its Supervisory Board delayed his discharge for a year under discretionary legal provisions. He was freed on Friday after spending more than three decades in prison, including the last ten years with Ocalan in the high-security Imrali Island facility.
His release coincided with a visit by a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) to Imrali, part of ongoing mediation efforts in what is being described as a new phase in the peace process.
The Turkish-Kurdish dialogue was quietly restarted in late 2024 after multiple failed attempts in past decades. Turkish media described Aktas' release as a goodwill gesture aimed at advancing negotiations to end the PKK's long-running armed campaign.
During this current initiative, Aktas appeared twice in public: first on February delivering a message on Ocalan's behalf, and again on July 9 in newly released video footage featuring the PKK leader.
A native of Diyarbakır, Aktas was arrested in 1994 on charges of attempting to secede part of Turkiye's territory and sentenced to life imprisonment.
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