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.