PKK leader calls on gov’t to determine principles for negotiations

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

The ruling Justice and Development (AKP) government to immediately realize the principles and mechanism for 'meaningful and deeper negotiations' in his message about the ongoing peace process, Abdullah Öcalan has said.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has called on the Turkish government to take concrete actions and to speed up the ongoing peace process.

“It is vitally important for the government to take this issue seriously and to accelerate the [peace] process. Any statement without taking any concrete steps will have no practical reciprocity,” Öcalan told deputies from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on Sept. 7, while they visited him in prison on İmralı Island in the Marmara Sea.

“We continue on with the dialogue process, despite [experiencing] several obstacles and provocations, foot dragging and one-sided demands, we have reached a new dimension and we would like to place this all into practice. This phase will determine the fate of our country, as well as the region,” Öcalan told the visiting HDP deputies.  

Öcalan also called on the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) government to immediately realize the principles and mechanism for “meaningful and deeper negotiations” in his message about the ongoing peace process.

The PKK leader, who is serving a life sentence, also said action should be taken for the inmates who are suffering from certain diseases otherwise “it will be difficult for the people to approve the [peace] process.”