Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shaking hands with Pervin Buldan, a key mediator of peace talks between the PKK and Ankara, on Thursday, October 30, 2025. Photo: Turkish Presidency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday received the main mediators in peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to discuss the next steps in the process, the mediators said.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) delegation, which acts as the main mediators of the Ankara-PKK peace process, held its third meeting with Erdogan on Thursday. They discussed “necessary steps to be taken from this point onward,” the party said.
“We would like to express our satisfaction that there is mutual understanding and consensus on taking steps to ensure that the process progresses more rapidly and healthily,” the statement added.
The Turkish presidency released photos of the meeting without revealing what was discussed.
On February 27, jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his followers to dissolve the party and lay down arms, which the PKK agreed to do in May. On July 11, a group of PKK fighters burned their weapons in Jasana Cave in Sulaimani province in a symbolic disarmament. A Turkish parliamentary commission is now formulating the legal foundations for peace with the PKK.
Days before the meeting between the mediators and Erdogan, the PKK announced what it said was a “historic” step to withdraw all fighters from Turkey to its headquarters on Kurdistan Region’s Mount Qandil.
Announcing the withdrawal on Sunday, the PKK, using the name Kurdistan Freedom Movement, said it expects Ankara to implement a “PKK-specific Transitional Law” that allows the group to enter politics.
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