Abdullah Ocalan

 The unstable political equilibrium in the Middle East first determines the reflexes of the small actors in the region and then becomes a part of their character. As their lives depend on surviving amid these volatile balances, these actors have to carefully watch for conjunctural changes and adopt their positions accordingly. An unbiased biography of Abdullah Öcalan, one of the most important actors who has left his mark in the last four decades of Turkish history, is yet to be written. But if it had been written, it would have provided an ample number of examples to such elusive manners by Öcalan since late 1970's.When he needed the 'force of violence', he didn't shy away from killing people, even small babies. And if he needs to display a different picture, he can as well pretend to be a 'wise man'. He even said 'he was ready to serve the state' on the plane which was taking him back to Turkey following his apprehension, much to the disappointment of the PKK base, who have idolized him.

Öcalan ordered PKK to cease fire the same year out of fear of being executed and waited until 2004 when he was finally convinced that he was not going to be executed and broke the truce.He supported the solution process which was initiated in 2005 with top level talks with the state and announced to the public in 2009. He took the peace process to the farthest level by calling the PKK to bid farewell to arms on March 21st, 2013. However, he immediately put an end to the process when the Gezi Park protests broke out two months later since he believed that the US was going to topple the government. It was the same Öcalan, who gave consent to resume the process later, but then capsized it once again by saying 'a solution is not possible without Rojava' when he saw new opportunities for his organization amid the developments in Syria. In short, you have no reliable actor to deal with, who, despite certain prerequisites that must be fulfilled first, ultimately believes that a Kurdish-Turkish peace can be achieved and is ready to play a historic role to make this happen.

This leader character or type is one of the prices we have had to pay for living in this geography. Kurdish-Turkish peace process was pointing to a bright and promising road map back in March 2013. But here we are, five years later with many lives lost and no hope for peace left, and one should not downplay the role of Öcalan and his character in this bleak picture today.