ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan in a letter said the return of Makhmour camp residents to their homes should follow a “legal framework” and be based on democratic principles as part of the ongoing peace process with Ankara.

Ocalan’s letter, dated October 15, was received by the women’s council in Makhmur camp on Thursday and praised the role of women in forming a society based on democratic values, the PKK-affiliated ANF news agency reported.

“The Makhmour people, who are victims of war and conflict,” are “subjects” of the ongoing peace process and “will pave the way to return to their lands” once a “successful conclusion” is reached, Ocalan said in the letter.

In February, Ocalan made a historic prison call, and in May, the PKK announced plans to lay down arms and dissolve, which later led to Ankara creating a parliament commission that visited him on Imrali Island in late November, saying “positive outcomes” had been achieved.

The commission has been tasked with drafting a legal framework for the peace process.

“To enable their return, a political, legal, and social foundation must be established, and the process should be addressed collectively within a political and legal framework, rather than individually or on a family basis,” Ocalan added. 

The Makhmour camp, housing around 10,000 Kurdish refugees from Turkey, was built in 1998 on the outskirts of Mount Qarachough, west of Makhmour and some 60 kilometers southwest of the Kurdistan Region's capital city, Erbil. 

The bulk of the camp residents fled the war between the Turkish army and the PKK in the 1990s. 

The return would only be possible if recognized within a legal framework, Ocalan stressed. 

The jailed leader also praised the people’s resistance in maintaining their identities despite “oppressions and persecution” while being “forcibly removed from their homes and lands,” saying their names will remain in the history of the process.

Turkey considers the Makhmur camp a PKK stronghold, and its drone strikes have previously targeted suspected PKK positions.

In a speech in 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the camp as “an incubation center for terrorism."

Camp residents face multiple hardships, including being barred from work, medical care, and university, while many cannot renew expired refugee documents, restricting their movement at checkpoints.

Ocalan has repeatedly expressed concern over the lack of concrete measures to establish a political framework ensuring the success of the peace process. 

Despite the advancement of the peace process and the halting of the PKK's four-decade-long campaign against the Turkish state, many observers have remained skeptical of the next steps, citing legal ambiguities and a lack of clarity.