![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan [Photo: AA] and DEM Party logo. Graphic: Rudaw](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.rudaw.net%2Fs3%2Frudaw.net%2FContentFiles%2F862695Image1.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
The DEM Party has been mediating peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since late last year. In March, the party requested a meeting with Erdogan.
AKP spokesman Omer Celik told reporters on Monday that the Turkish president has accepted the DEM Party’s request.
“A date will be set for the DEM Party Imrali delegation to meet with President Erdogan this week,” Celik stated, referring to the delegates who held several meetings with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in recent months. Ocalan on February 27 made a historic call on his supporters to lay down arms and dissolve the PKK.
DEM Party delegates, which include veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk, have held numerous meetings with Turkey’s key political parties, as well as the Kurdistan Region’s top officials and ruling parties to convey Ocalan’s peace message.
Though the peace talks have slowed down in recent weeks, the planned meeting with Erdogan could revitalize efforts to end the conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has claimed over 40,000 lives since its 1984 onset.
The PKK has expressed willingness to uphold Ocalan’s call for peace and declared a unilateral ceasefire, but has accused Turkey of continuing to carry out attacks against its members. The group also demanded a physical meeting with Ocalan as a precondition for the success of the peace process.
Founded in 1978, the PKK began its armed struggle against Ankara four years later. The group is currently designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.
