Gov't allows pro-Kurdish DEM Party to visit jailed PKK leader Öcalan

Turkey's Justice Ministry has approved the pro-Kurdish DEM Party's request to visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. The visit to the prison on İmralı Island is expected to take place in the coming days, depending on weather conditions.

Friday December 27 2024 11:14 pm

Kurdish politicians visit Öcalan during Peace Process (2014).

Reuters & Duvar English

Turkey has decided to allow parliament's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party to hold face-to-face talks with militant leader Abdullah Öcalan on his island prison, the party said on Dec. 27, setting up the first such visit in nearly a decade.

DEM requested the visit last month, soon after a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expanded on a proposal to end the 40-year-old conflict between the state and Öcalan's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Öcalan has been serving a life sentence in a prison on the island of Imrali, south of Istanbul, since his capture 25 years ago.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, made the call a month after suggesting that Öcalan announce an end to the insurgency in exchange for the possibility of his release.

Erdoğan described Bahçeli's initial proposal as a "historic window of opportunity". After the latest call last month, Erdoğan said he was in complete agreement with Bahçeli on every issue and that they were acting in harmony and coordination.

"To be frank, the picture before us does not allow us to be very hopeful," Erdoğan said in parliament. "Despite all these difficulties, we are considering what can be done with a long-range perspective that focuses not only on today but also on the future."

Bahçeli regularly condemns pro-Kurdish politicians as tools of the PKK, which they deny.

DEM's predecessor party was involved in peace talks between Ankara and Öcalan a decade ago, last meeting him in April 2015. The peace process and a ceasefire collapsed soon after, unleashing the most deadly phase of the conflict.

DEM MPs Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan, who both met Öcalan as part of peace talks at the time, will travel to Imrali island on the weekend, depending on weather conditions, the party said.

Önder, who spoke to the Demirören News Agency (DHA), stated that they received approval from the ministry for the visit, but the exact day of the visit has not been determined yet due to weather conditions.

Önder mentioned that they would be traveling to İmralı by sea and said, "The timing of the visit will depend on the weather conditions. We are waiting for news. We have not received any information about the date yet. We will most likely depart from Mudanya."

Turkey and its Western allies designate the PKK a terrorist group. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which in the past was focused in the mainly Kurdish southeast but is now centered on northern Iraq, where the PKK is based.

Growing regional instability and changing political dynamics are seen as factors behind the bid to end the conflict with the PKK. The chances of success are unclear as Ankara has given no clues on what it may entail.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria this month, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) militia, which it sees as an extension of the PKK, must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria's future.

The YPG is the main component of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In a Reuters interview last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped fight Islamic State and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Turkey, a core demand from Ankara.

Authorities in Turkey have continued to crack down on alleged PKK activities. Last month, the government replaced five pro-Kurdish mayors in southeastern cities for suspected PKK ties, in a move that drew criticism from DEM and others.