Jailed PKK leader Öcalan threatening to quit peace process, says sister

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has vowed to quit the peace process if it continues to be "this way," according to his sister, Fatma Öcalan, who spoke to members of the press following a visit to İmralı island. 

Öcalan told his sister and his uncle Süleyman Arslan that he “would quit if the peace process continues in this way” and that he would “pull away and just watch.” 

When asked about what was it that bothered the jailed PKK leader about the process, she told reporters that he was “bothered that there was a no peace.” 

“He is bored with prison now. This is not how it should happen,” Fatma Öcalan said, adding they had a hard time standing “that closed-up place," where the jailed leader is sentenced to serve his time.

Fatma Öcalan refused to elaborate further on the details of the conversation, stating it was “between family.”

A recent press conference request by the PKK leader has been rejected by the ruling government due to “judicial legislation in hand,” according to Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. 

Öcalan had expressed his wish to organize a press briefing from his prison on İmrali, urging the government to move more quickly to the next phase of the peace process and speed up discussions on reforms on July 21, according to a statement released by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).