DEM Party delegation meets jailed PKK leader

ANKARA

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) visited Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed PKK leader serving life on a prison island off Istanbul.

The visit was the party's first in almost a decade. DEM Party's predecessor, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), last met Öcalan in April 2015.

DEM Party's delegation, made up of lawmakers Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan, traveled to the island after the government approved the party's request on Dec. 27.

PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.

After the delegation returned from the island, a DEM Party statement issued on Dec. 29 said Öcalan is "ready to make a call" to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict.

Detained 25 years ago by Turkish security forces in Kenya after years on the run, Öcalan was sentenced to death. However, Türkiye abolished capital punishment in 2004 and he is spending his remaining years in an isolation cell on the prison island.

The rare visit became possible after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahçeli invited Öcalan to come to parliament to renounce terror and disband PKK.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his ally, backed the appeal as a "historic window of opportunity."

"I have the competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm started by Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Erdoğan," Öcalan said, according to the statement.

"In light of this, I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the call."

Soon after Bahçeli's call, Öcalan was allowed his first family visit since March 2020, prompting the DEM Party to make its own request to the justice ministry to visit him.

PKK later claimed responsibility for a terror attack in October on a Turkish defense firm that killed five people.

Öcalan said the visiting delegation would share his approach with both the state and political circles.

"Restrengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also... an urgency for all peoples," the DEM Party quoted him as saying.

He said all the efforts would "take the country to the level it deserves" and become a "very valuable guide for a democratic transformation."

"It's time for Türkiye and the region for peace, democracy and brotherhood."

The government's approval of the DEM Party visit comes after rebels in neighboring Syria overthrew strongman president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8.

According to the statement, Öcalan said developments in Syria had shown that outside interference would only complicate the problem, and a solution could no longer be postponed.