ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In his latest message on ongoing peace talks with the Turkish state, jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan welcomed that the country is in a state of “non-conflict,” but reiterated that peace is contingent on the government taking legal and political steps.
“Mr. Ocalan was, as always, extremely high-spirited, healthy, and confident. He stated that with the Peace and Democratic Society Process that began a year ago, a state of non-conflict prevails in our country and major dangers have been prevented, and that everyone who played a role in this owns a great and honorable effort,” the Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party said in a statement on Saturday following a three and a half hour meeting with the PKK leader the day before.
A delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party visited Ocalan at Imrali prison on Friday, amid growing hopes of creating a formal legal framework for the peace process. The delegation was composed of lawmaker and chief peace negotiator Pervin Buldan, fellow lawmaker Mithat Sancar, and Ocalan’s longtime legal representative, Faik Ozgur Erol.
Ocalan told them that his message in February calling on his followers to lay down arms and dissolve the party “depends on political and legal requirements,” the statement added.
"Negotiative democracy is one of the important solution models that civilization has developed after three centuries of destructive conflicts and terrible losses in world wars. The methods and mechanisms that form its essence should be taken as the basis for solving many problems that Turkey faces internally and externally,” Ocalan said.
There have been an unprecedented number of meetings with Ocalan since a new peace process between the state and PKK, which Ankara calls Terror-Free Turkey, was announced late last year. The previous meeting between the same delegation and the jailed Kurdish leader was conducted August 28.
Ocalan told the mediators that the peace process “should now be discussed more strongly on a political ground without wasting time, and that work on legal and regulatory arrangements should begin immediately without wasting time,” DEM Party co-chair Tulay Hatimoglullari told the pro-DEM party media outlet, Jin News, on Friday.
As a symbolic gesture of goodwill, a first group of PKK fighters publicly set fire to their weapons in a ceremony held in Sulaimani province in early July. Later that month, the Turkish parliament formed a special commission tasked with charting a course toward lasting peace.
The commission has held meetings with various groups, including families who have lost people in the four decades of war. Hatimoglullari said Ocalan believes that there is no need for the commission to listen more, but it must draft laws that could pave the way for the peace process to move forward smoothly.
Ocalan told the DEM Party delegation on Friday that the parliament “should fulfill its duty immediately to perform this task,” said Hatimoglullari.
The Turkish parliament’s summer recess ended on Wednesday. The commission is expected to submit its recommendations to the parliament later this year.
The DEM Party has repeatedly called on the commission to meet with Ocalan. “If they come here, I will conduct a democratic negotiation with them,” Ocalan has told the mediators, according to Hatimoglullari.
The number of casualties has steadily declined in the past year, according to data compiled by the International Crisis Group, which most recently reported two PKK deaths and one among state security forces in May 2025.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment