Jailed PKK leader Öcalan's message to be shared on Feb. 27
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party will meet with jailed PKK leader Öcalan for the third time on Feb. 27. The party then will hold a press conference and share an expected statement from Öcalan who might call on the PKK to disarm.
Reuters & Duvar English
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party will hold a press conference on Feb. 27 to discuss talks with jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan and share an expected statement from him, a senior party official told Reuters on Feb. 26.
The Justice Ministry has granted permission for a DEM delegation to visit the long-imprisoned Öcalan on Feb. 27, marking the third such visit since December, a ministry official said.
This move is seen as part of a broader government initiative to have Öcalan call on the PKK separatist movement to disarm, potentially ending a four-decade-old insurgency against the Turkish state.
The party later said it would hold a press conference at 5 pm local time in Istanbul, following the session with Öcalan.
While the party hopes Öcalan’s message will be delivered in video format for greater impact, government and ruling party sources have voiced opposition to any video statement, citing sensitivities over the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and European Union.
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said on Feb. 26 that the party’s request for a video message from Ocalan was not possible, in line with previous government statements.
Veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk has also applied to be part of the delegation, DEM Party spokeswoman Ayşegül Doğan said.
Unlike the previous meetings with a delegation of two DEM Party MPs, this time it will consist of seven people, namely Ahmet Türk, DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, DEM Party MPs Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Pervin Buldan, and Cengiz Çiçek, and Öcalan's lawyer Faik Özgür Erol.
Meanwhile, the DEM Party said the press conference will be publicly screened in the eastern Diyarbakır and Van provinces.
The party invited people in these provinces "to welcome together the honorable call for peace to be made by Mr. Abdullah Öcalan."
Öcalan has been held in near-total isolation on the prison island of İmralı since 1999, with only rare communication with the outside world.