ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Friday received a phone call from the co-leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), who urged Barzani’s continued engagement in the peace process in Turkey to help ensure its success.
DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan “expressed his appreciation for President Nechirvan Barzani’s contributions to the peace process in Türkiye. He emphasized the importance of the President’s continued role and support, now and in the future, as he had done in earlier stages, to help ensure the success of the process,” according to a statement from Barzani’s office.
Turkey is in the midst of a renewed effort for peace between the state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), bringing an end to four decades of conflict. The PKK announced in mid-May that it had decided to dissolve itself and end its armed struggle against the Turkish state, nearly three months after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his followers to shift from conflict to politics in order to achieve Kurdish cultural and political rights.
President Barzani thanked Bakirhan for reaching out and “emphasized the importance of the peace process in Türkiye. He reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the initiative and stressed that the peace process is a crucial opportunity that must not be overlooked, calling on all parties to work together for its success.”
Despite progress on peace talks between the PKK and Ankara, which are believed to have unofficially started last year, both sides blame each other for the slow progress.
Turkish attacks on alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region have actually increased, according to Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based human rights organization closely monitoring Ankara’s military operations. CPT said in a report on Wednesday that Turkey's attacks increased by 143 percent in May compared to the previous month. All the attacks were carried out in Duhok province, mainly Amedi district.
