DEM Party delegation to visit Ocalan on Imrali Island Sunday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) announced that its Imrali delegation will visit imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday as discussions on the Kurdish issue in Turkey continue to evolve.

Sezai Temelli, deputy chairman of the DEM Party parliamentary group, said during a television appearance late Friday that the delegation would travel to Imrali Island on Sunday to meet with Ocalan.

The delegation includes Pervin Buldan, deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament and DEM Party lawmaker for Van, Mithat Sancar, DEM Party MP for Urfa, and lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol from the Asrin Law Office, which represents the jailed PKK leader.

The visit will mark the first meeting between the delegation and Ocalan since March 27.

The renewed contacts come amid a broader political process aimed at resolving the Kurdish issue in Turkey and ending decades of conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK.

The process gained momentum after Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), called on Ocalan on October 1, 2024, to urge the PKK to lay down its arms and raised the possibility of a “right to hope”

On February 27, 2025, Ocalan issued a message from Imrali Prison calling on the PKK to dissolve itself and disarm. The PKK later announced during its 12th Congress held from May 5–7, 2025, that it had decided to self-dissolve and end its armed struggle.

Subsequent developments included the first group of PKK fighters laying down their arms on July 11, 2025, followed by the organization’s announcement in October that it was withdrawing its forces from Turkey. On November 16, 2025, the group also declared its withdrawal from Mount Zap in the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province due to what it described as the risk of clashes.

Turkey’s parliament has since established the Commission for National Unity, Brotherhood, and Democracy, tasked with preparing legal frameworks related to the reintegration of former PKK members into society.

Turkish officials have said the passage of such laws depends on the complete dissolution of PKK-linked organizations and institutions operating abroad and in Europe.

Earlier this week, Bahceli said the process had entered a new phase and required a new roadmap. He proposed granting Ocalan a new status within the process, “on the condition that his sentence remains in effect.”

Bahceli added that such a role does not imply representing the Kurds or defending national rights, stressing that any coordination would remain limited to overseeing the dissolution process of the organization.

Kosar Osman contributed to this report from Erbil.