HDP team goes to Kandil to meet PKK leadership

ANKARA

DHA Photo

A delegation from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) departed to Kandil in northern Iraq Feb. 23 to review recent developments over the ongoing Kurdish resolution process with senior officials of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the party said in a statement.

The talks will be carried out by Istanbul MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Ceylan Bağrıyanık, the HDP said, without giving further details. The PKK’s senior military leadership is located in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq.

The visit comes at a time when talks over the peace process between the government and HDP officials have been suspended as obstacles standing before a 10-article, joint communiqué have not been resolved. Imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan had been expected to announce a unilateral cease-fire if the joint communiqué had been released.

The government’s insistence in passing a much-controversial homeland security package also constitutes a major obstacle to the peace process, as the HDP strongly opposes the bill.