Pro-Kurdish delegation to visit jailed PKK leader

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The main mediators in talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will visit the group’s leader Abdullah Ocalan in prison on Imrali island on Monday, the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said in a statement on Saturday, as peace negotiations progress.

 

"DEM Party Imrali Delegation members Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar, and Faik Ozgur Erol will travel to Imrali on Monday, November 3rd, to meet with Mr. Abdullah Ocalan," it said.

 

It did not elaborate on what the two sides are expected to discuss during the visit.

 

The DEM Party delegation had its third meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to discuss “necessary steps to be taken from this point onward,” the party said.

 

In May, the PKK officially declared its dissolution and an end to its armed campaign, following Ocalan’s appeal for a political solution to four decades of a conflict that has claimed nearly 40,000 lives.

 

Last week, the PKK said it had begun withdrawing all fighters from Turkey. In announcing the withdrawal, the PKK, under the name “Kurdistan Freedom Movement,” said it expects Ankara to implement a “PKK-specific Transitional Law” that would allow the group to enter politics.

 

A Turkish parliamentary commission is drafting the legal framework for the peace process.