Jineology, also known as the science of women, is a form of feminism advocated by Öcalan[26] and subsequently a fundamental tenet of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).

[38] His return to Ankara was facilitated by the state in order to divide the Dev-Genç (Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey), of which Öcalan was a member.

[34] He was charged with distributing the left-wing political magazine Şafak (published by Doğu Perinçek) and was held for seven months at the Mamak Prison.

[43] In 1975, together with Mazlum Doğan and Mehmet Hayri Durmuş [ku], he published a political booklet which described the main aims for a Revolution in Kurdistan.

[45] The group decided to disperse into the different towns in Turkish Kurdistan in order to set up a base of supporters for an armed revolution.

[45] At the beginning, this idea had only a few supporters, but following a journey Öcalan made through the cities of Ağrı, Batman, Diyarbakır, Bingöl, Kars and Urfa in 1977, the group counted over 300 adherents and had organised about thirty armed militants.

[45] In 1978, in the midst of the right- and left-wing conflicts which culminated in the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Öcalan founded the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

[44] In 1984, the PKK initiated a campaign of armed conflict by attacking government forces[50][51][52] in order to create an independent Kurdish state.

[65] With time, the United States (1997),[66] European Union, Syria, Turkey, and other countries have included the PKK on their lists of terrorist organizations.

In October 1998, Öcalan prepared for his departure from Syria and during a meeting in Kobane, he unsuccessfully attempted to lay the foundations for a new party which failed due to Syrian intelligence's obstruction.

[78] The German chancellor Gerhard Schröder as well as the Minister of the Interior Otto Schily preferred that Öcalan would be tried by an unspecified "European Court".

[79] But Italy also didn't want Öcalan to stay, and pulled several diplomatic strings to compel him to leave the country,[72] which was accomplished on 16 January[80] when he departed to Nizhny Novgorod in hope to find a safe haven in Russia.

[72] From Russia, he took an airplane from Saint Petersburg to Greece where he arrived in Athens upon the invitation of Nikolas Naxakis, a retired Admiral on 29 January 1999.

[88][89] A group named the Revenge Hawks of Apo set fire to a department store in Kadiköy Istanbul, causing the death of 13 people.

[98] His lawyers had difficulty in representing him adequately as they were allowed only two interviews per week of initially a duration of 20 minutes, and later 1 hour, of which several were cancelled due to "bad weather" or because the authorities didn't give the permission needed for them.

[94] Shortly before the verdict was read out by Judge Turgut Okyay, when asked about his final remarks, he again offered to play a role in the peace finding process.

[103] On the same day, Amnesty International (AI) demanded a re-trial[95] and Human Rights Watch (HRW) questioned the fact that witnesses brought by the defense were not heard in the trial.

[102] In 1999 the Turkish Parliament discussed a so-called Repentance Bill which would commute Öcalans death sentence to 20 years imprisonment and allow PKK militants to surrender with a limited amnesty, but it didn't pass due to resistance from the far-right around the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

[104] In January 2000 the Turkish government declared the death sentence was delayed until the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reviewed the verdict.

[105] Upon the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey in August 2002,[106] in October of that year, the security court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.

[108] In 2005, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 3, 5, and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights by refusing to allow Öcalan to appeal his arrest and by sentencing him to death without a fair trial.

[123] In January 1999 during his stay in Europe, Öcalan saw the parties liberation struggle focus to have developed from guerrilla warfare to dialogue and negotiations.

[124] After his capture Öcalan called for a halt in PKK attacks, and advocated for a peaceful solution for the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.

[129] Öcalan called for the foundation of a "Truth and Justice Commission" by Kurdish institutions in order to investigate war crimes committed by both the PKK and Turkish security forces.

[133] Öcalan had his lawyer Ibrahim Bilmez[134] release a statement on 28 September 2006 calling on the PKK to declare a ceasefire and seek peace with Turkey.

Öcalan's statement said, "The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," and "it is very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds.

Öcalan's statement was read to hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Diyarbakır who had gathered to celebrate the Kurdish New Year (Newroz).

[144] Since his incarceration, Öcalan has significantly changed his ideology through exposure to Western social theorists such as Murray Bookchin, Immanuel Wallerstein and Hannah Arendt.

Öcalan promoted a platform of shared values: environmentalism, self-defense, gender equality, and a pluralistic tolerance for religion, politics, and culture.

[158] In 1988, while representing the PKK in Athens, Greece, his wife unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Öcalan, following which Yildirim went underground.