He attended elementary school in a neighboring village, and wanted to join the Turkish army. He applied to the military high school but failed in the admission exam. In 1966 he began to study at a vocational high school in Ankara (), where he met others who were also interested in improving Kurdish rights. After graduating, Öcalan started working at the Diyarbakir Title Deeds Office. He was relocated one year later to Istanbul where he participated in the meetings of the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (DDKO). Later, he entered the Istanbul Law Faculty but after the first year transferred to Ankara University to study political science. 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. President Süleyman Demirel later regretted this decision, since the PKK was to become a much greater threat to the state than "Dev-Genç".