Parliamentary delegation to visit jailed PKK leader

ANKARA

The jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, is expected to host a parliamentary delegation this weekend at the prison on İmralı Island.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy parliamentary group chairs Pervin Buldan and İdris Baluken, as well as the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder are set to visit Öcalan on Dec. 7.

The visit will be the 13th such parliamentary visit to the jailed PKK leader. Öcalan’s most recent visit was from Baluken, Buldan and Önder on Nov. 9. Önder, who was until recently a BDP deputy, is one of the four parliamentary deputies under the HDP, which was recently formed upon Öcalan’s suggestion to “bring the Kurdish movement and the Turkish left together.”