ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish issue in Turkey can be obtained peacefully through the parliament, a Kurdish lawmaker said on Tuesday.
"There is no need for war and conflict among the people of Turkey. We can obtain and maintain rights and freedoms through parliament," Serkan Ramanli, a member of the Turkish parliament from the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda Par), told Rudaw.
There are new efforts in Turkey seeking a potential peace process between the state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"I hope that this process will proceed successfully. All we have seen in the last 40 years was the shedding of Kurdish blood," added Ramanli.
A delegation from the the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), consisting of lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder, visited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Turkey’s Imrali island prison on Saturday after the Turkish government recently shifted its hardline stance prohibiting contact with the PKK leader, who is granted only irregular contact with the outside world.
On Sunday, the lawmakers cited him as saying that “strengthening Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood again has gained historical importance and urgency, as well as being a critical responsibility for all peoples.”
They said that Ocalan called on political fronts in Turkey to contribute to the process by “making positive contributions,” suggesting the Turkish parliament as an important platform for change.
Ocalan also expressed his willingness to cooperate with the changes proposed by Turkish President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahceli.
Bahceli has proposed that Ocalan address the Turkish parliament and announce the dissolution of the PKK. MHP and AKP are government allies.
Ocalan has been kept in the island prison since 1999. On Sunday, the DEM Party lawmakers said he was in good health and had high morale.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.
PKK on Tuesday endorsed Ocalan's message.
"As the freedom and peoples movement we declare that the views of our leader published at the end of 2024, which are worth a manifesto, will be our compass of struggle in the new year. We call on our people, all our friends, all political segments, and all democratic forces who are in favor of the solution of the Kurdish question and the democratization of Turkey to struggle on this basis," it said in a statement.
