SANLIURFA: Turkiye announced on Sunday a $14 billion regional development plan that aims to reduce the economic gap between its mainly Kurdish southeast region and the rest of the country.

The announcement comes amid increased hopes for an end to a decades-long insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in southeast Turkiye as well as the advent of a new leadership in neighboring Syria with cordial ties to Ankara.

The eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkiye have long lagged behind other regions of the country in most economic indicators including the GDP per capita, partly as a result of the insurgency.

Turkish Industry Minister Fatih Kacir told reporters in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa that the government would spend a total 496.2 billion lira ($14.15 billion) on 198 projects across the region in the period to 2028.

“With the implementation of the projects, we anticipate an additional 49,000 lira ($1,400) increase in annual income per capita in the region,” he added.

According to 2023 data, the per capita income of Sanliurfa stood at $4,971, well below the national average of $13,243.

Meanwhile, Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party said Sunday that Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the PKK, is “ready to make a call” to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict.

Two lawmakers from the DEM party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK.

On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government approved DEM’s request to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.

Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.