Sociology Professor Eva Illouz has sent a letter of support regarding Mr. Öcalan’s Call for Peace and Democratic Society.
The message reads as follows:
"The decision by Öcalan to dismantle of the PKK, should serve as a model and source of inspiration for many regional conflicts, and most strikingly for the bloody conflict which has torn the Middle-East apart for the last century, between Israelis and Palestinians.
Öcalan had the courage to take a step which marks great leaders, he chose peace over unending strife.
Peace is a beautiful, ample word. Peace is more than peace, it is life itself, it offers children and adults the capacity to imagine their future, it replaces grief with the ordinary hustle and bustle of life, it makes people come out of the dark shadow of destruction to the light of their plans and projects, it replaces the enemies with brothers and sisters in humanity.
War destroys lives, language and culture. Only peace restores them, make them grow and flourish.
May Öcalan be the leader of other leaders in the Middle-East. May his voice reach far and wide. He will be remembered as the one who truly loved his people."
Eva Illouz is currently a professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and serves as director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. She has authored numerous books and articles in the fields of the sociology of emotions, culture, and capitalism, and her works have been translated into nearly twenty languages. She has received many international awards, including the Légion d’honneur, and is a member of the Center for the Study of Rationality.
13 September 2025