ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The leader of the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda Par) on Sunday criticized the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) for its lack of transparency regarding the renewed peace talks between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“According to the DEM, this is a peace process, but what exactly is the process? What is happening? Reliable information has yet to be released,” Huda Par leader Zekeriya Yapicioglu told Rudaw.
“Both sides are saying that [the PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan will call on the PKK from Imrali to say that the time for arms is over, but what happens after that?” Yapicioglu asked.
The DEM party is currently mediating talks between Ankara and the PKK in a bid to end long-standing hostilities. Details of the process however remain unclear, but the pro-Kurdish party’s officials have said that the push aims to bring peace to the country.
A DEM party delegation has visited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan twice in recent weeks. They have also held meetings with all political parties that are represented in the Turkish legislature.
Turkish officials chiefly view the DEM Party as the political wing of the PKK, but the party has denied any ties with the armed group.
Ocalan is expected to speak on February 15. Turkish state-affiliated media have speculated that the PKK leader might ask his group to lay down arms.
Yapicioglu also highlighted that there is a possibility for the PKK to reject laying down arms even if their leader Abdullah Ocalan urges them to.
On Friday, top PKK commander Murat Karayilan said that the group would not disarm unless they had a direct meeting with Ocalan and guaranteed that Kurdish rights in Turkey would be safeguarded.
“We call on the government and the state - whether the PKK lays down its arms or not - to take whatever steps necessary to resolve the Kurdish issue,” Yapicioglu said. He noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also cautious about the peace talks, adding however that “when they reach a certain level [of maturity], he [Erdogan] will definitely make a statement,” Yapicioglu explained.
In January, Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who is the mastermind of the latest peace talks, said that the PKK must be dissolved “without any conditions.”
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now advocates for autonomy. Turkey classifies the group as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan warned last month that if the PKK refuses to disarm, Turkey has “the strength, means, and determination to eradicate the separatist organization.”
While expectations for these peace talks are high, clashes between Turkey and the PKK persist. Ankara regularly carries out attacks on alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region while Karayilan has stated that peace cannot begin until the fighting stops.
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