ISTANBUL: Lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party were to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday for talks described by jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan as having a “historic nature.”
DEM, Turkiye’s third biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and Ocalan, whose militant group the PKK in May ended its decades-long armed struggle and disband.
On Sunday, the delegation traveled to Imrali island where Ocalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement since 1999. They said they had had “a very productive two-and-a-half hour meeting” with the 76-year-old former militant.
“He said he attached great importance our delegation’s meeting with the president which was of a historic nature,” the delegation said in a statement.
“Similarly, he said the commission to be established in the Turkish (parliament) will also play a major role in directing the peace and the solution.”
With the process “entering a new phase” it was very important everyone played their role, he told them.
“His hope, confidence and belief in the contribution of this process to the democratization of Turkiye as a whole is extremely strong,” they said.
The three-strong delegation that went to Imrali included lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar and lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol, DEM said.
The delegation would meet with DEM’s leadership on Monday morning then Buldan and Sancar would head to the presidential palace for talks with Erdogan at 1200 GMT, it said.
The meeting came as the PKK was to hold a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan to start destroying a first tranche of weapons — which will likely take place on or around 10-12 July.
Erdogan said the move would give momentum to peace efforts with the Kurds.
The disarmament process is expected to unfold over the coming months.
Pro-Kurdish MPs to meet Erdogan after Ocalan talks
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Pro-Kurdish MPs to meet Erdogan after Ocalan talks
- DEM, Turkiye’s third biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan
Sirens heard at Incirlik air base, key NATO facility in south Turkiye: state news agency
- Key NATO facility where US troops are stationed near the southeastern city of Adana
ANKARA: Sirens were heard early on Friday at Turkiye’s Incirlik air base, a key NATO facility where US troops are stationed near the southeastern city of Adana, state news agency Anadolu reported.
There was no immediate official comment on the incident, which took place four days after NATO air defenses shot down a ballistic missile in Turkish airspace that was fired from Iran, the second in five days.
Residents of Adana, which lies 10 kilometers away from the base, were woken at around 3:25 a.m. (0025 GMT) by sirens, which sounded for around five minutes, according to the Ekonomim business news website.
It said a red alert sounded at the base.
Several people posted mobile phone footage on social media of a glowing image flying through the sky, suggesting it could be a missile heading for the air base, it said.
Across the city, sirens from fire engines and the security forces could be heard for a long time, it added.
NATO said it shot down a second ballistic missile fired from Iran on Monday, prompting a stern warning from Turkiye to Tehran not to take “provocative steps.”
The announcement came shortly after Washington said it was closing down its consulate in Adana, urging all American citizens to leave southeastern Turkiye.
Since the US-Israeli war against Iran started, Tehran has launched strikes across the Middle East. Turkiye had appeared to have been spared.
As well as Incirlik air base, US troops are also stationed at Kurecik, another Turkish base that is a NATO facility in the center of the country, where a Patriot missile defense system was deployed on Tuesday.
A first missile had been intercepted by NATO defenses in Turkish air space on March 4.
