ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party is set to visit jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in prison “in the coming days” after concluding a visit to the Kurdistan Region, a party MP said on Monday.
“Our delegation will go to Imrali [prison] in the next few days and a request for a meeting will be submitted today or tomorrow,” Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit, deputy head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party’s (DEM Party) parliamentary bloc, said during a speech in the legislature.
Kocyigit said that their delegation will brief Ocalan on their meetings with the Kurdistan Region’s top leaders and that he is expected to deliver a highly anticipated “historic speech” following the visit.
A DEM Party delegation visited the Kurdistan Region earlier this month and held meetings with Kurdish leaders to relay Ocalan’s messages. The delegation met with Ocalan twice in recent months, in Turkey’s secluded Imrali prison island.
“The actions and obstacles that threaten the alliance and partnership between Turks and Kurds and create obstacles must be condemned politically and societally,” Kocyigit stressed.
On February 8, the DEM Party announced that Ocalan would make a “historic call” to permanently resolve the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s justice minister affirmed that the DEM Party will be granted access to Imrali if a request is submitted.
Observers believe that Ocalan might ask the PKK to lay down its arms. However, the PKK has stated that it will not heed such calls unless Ocalan is allowed to physically meet the group’s leadership in person and is released from prison.
In recent months, the DEM Party has revived efforts to negotiate an agreement between Turkey and the PKK, aiming to end the decades-long hostilities between the two sides.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially advocated for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now seeks autonomy. Turkey, the European Union, and the United States classify the group as a terrorist organization.
