A protest was held in the city of Diyarbakir in Turkey, by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and various Kurdish organizations and parties to mark the anniversary of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s expulsion from Syria on October 9, 1998. Ocalan, the leader of the armed Kurdish organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was captured in Kenya, taken to Turkey, and arrested after being expelled from Syria. Imprisoned for 27 years, Ocalan has been conducting peace talks with the Turkish state for the past two years. Within the framework of these talks, Ocalan had decided to disarm his organization.