He was born on April 4, 1949 into a poor peasant family in the village of Ömerli, in the district of Halfeti in Şanlıurfa Province. He studied at vocational school and then pursued a course at the School of Political Science, Ankara University. He became involved in militant Maoist politics and was first arrested in 1973. In 1975 he went to Syria where he was one of the founder members of the PKK in 1978. At the First Congress in November 1978 he was elected leader.