Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is expected to call for a peace deal on Sept. 1, International Day of Peace, according to sources close to Kurdish politics in Ankara. In order to end the 30 years of violence that was started by the internationally recognized PKK terrorist organization, the government launched talks with Öcalan, who is serving life imprisonment on İmralı Island, an island in the Marmara Sea. As a result of these talks in March 2013, Öcalan called for a truce saying: "A door has been opened from armed struggle to democratic struggle." After that the government started the reconciliation process and took tangible steps that improve the democratic rights of the Kurdish population in order to end a three-decade conflict that has cost over 40,000 lives. Two years later in March 2015 during Nevruz celebrations, Öcalan called to hold a congress to leave the armed fight behind. He called on the PKK to gather a congress with the aim of ending the armed conflict against Turkey. However, on July 11, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella network that includes the PKK, announced the cease-fire over. On July 14, KCK Co-Chair Bese Hozat wrote an article titled "The new process: a revolutionary people's war," and on July 22 the PKK re-started targeting security officers, killing two police officers in their house in Şanlıurfa's Ceylanpınar district. Two days later the military launched extensive operations against the PKK in northern Syria and northern Iraq and it has been reported that nearly 1,000 terrorists have been killed and 500 injured while 230 have surrendered as a result of military operations that have been continuing over the month.

Due to heavy causalities, the PKK was expected to declare a tactical cease-fire in the coming days, therefore any possible call for peace from Öcalan would be welcomed by the PKK administration. Moreover, recently published polls suggest that the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) is losing votes and may move under the 10 percent election threshold in the upcoming Nov. 1 general elections due to their closeness to the PKK and their statements that praise the terrorist organization. Likewise, HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş said on Aug. 10 in the southeastern province of Van that the party may stay under the electoral threshold in the snap election. "We can even take the risk of being under the electoral threshold," he said. Political circles also believe that if the PKK answer Öcalan's call for a cease-fire this move may Demirtaş strengthen his hand before the election while putting some distance between his party and the PKK.