DEM Party to continue talks with AKP, other parties on Jan 6

ANKARA

The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) will resume its talks with political parties, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), on Jan. 6 as part of ongoing efforts to pressure the PKK into ending its armed struggle against Türkiye.

The talks come after two DEM lawmakers, Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, paid a rare visit to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island off Istanbul.

Buldan and Önder, joined by former Mardin Mayor and prominent Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk, have initiated a series of high-level talks in parliament to inform them about the content of their meeting with Öcalan and discuss ways to create a Türkiye without terrorism.

The delegation has already met Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Jan. 2. Both meetings were positive, according to Sırrı Süreyya Önder who briefly informed the media about the talks.

In this context, the DEM delegation will pay a visit to AKP leadership at the parliament on Jan. 6, where they will be hosted by deputy leader Abdullah Güler. Sources indicated that no meeting is planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the chairman of the AKP.

On Jan. 6, the delegation will visit the Welfare Party (SP), where they are scheduled to meet with Chairman Mahmut Arıkan, as well as with Ahmet Davutoğlu of the Future Party. The talks will continue on Jan. 7 with the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), led by Ali Babacan, and the Fatih Erbakan-led New Welfare Party.

The DEM is also planned to meet the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) but no date has been set yet due to the program of Chairman Özgür Özel. In a statement, Özel had said his party could back the process if talks were held in a transparent and frank manner at the parliament.

In the meantime, the İYİ (Good) Party has announced its objection to the process that involves Öcalan as the key actor. İYİ Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu said he will not give an appointment to the DEM, during a press conference he held on Jan. 3.

PKK, listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, is responsible for the killings of more than 40,000 people since the early 1980s. Türkiye urges PKK to declare that it is laying down its arms and ending its armed conflict against the country.