DEM Party delegation meets Massoud Barzani in northern Iraq

ANKARA

A delegation by the People’s Equality and Democracy (DEM Party) has met former Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani in Irbil as part of the ongoing initiative to end PKK’s armed conflict against Türkiye and disbanding itself.

According to a statement by the DEM Party, the delegation led by Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder held talks with Barzani and informed him about the recent talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan who is serving a life sentence in İmralı Island in the Marmara Sea.

The delegation also listened to the views and advice of Barzani for the continuation of the process of the disarmament and disbandment of PKK.

According to the statement, the DEM Party team will meet KRG President Nachirvan Barzani in Irbil on Feb. 17 before moving to Sulaymaniyah, where they will hold talks with Kurdistan Patriotic Union officials, Bafal Talabani and Kubat Talabani.

Talks with Nechirvan Barzani will come just two days after the KRG president met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the margins of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The DEM Party has already visited Öcalan in İmralı twice with expectations that the latter will soon make a substantial call on the PKK to end the armed conflict. The process, launched after the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahçeli initiated, is largely supported by the political parties in Türkiye.

“Mr. Öcalan is preparing to make a historic call in the coming days for a profound and permanent solution to the Kurdish problem and the construction of a democratic Türkiye," DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan said in a weekly parliamentary meeting last week.