Turkey Approves First DEM Party Visit to Jailed PKK Leader Öcalan in Nearly a Decade

Dec 28, 2024, 12:54 PM

Turkey's Justice Ministry has approved a request from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party to visit Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), at his prison on İmralı Island. This marks the first such visit in nearly a decade. The DEM Party delegation, consisting of lawmakers Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan, met with Öcalan on December 28, 2024. The visit follows a call by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who suggested that Öcalan could announce an end to the insurgency in exchange for possible release. Öcalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, expressed readiness to contribute positively to a new paradigm supported by Bahçeli and Erdoğan, aiming to strengthen Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood and promote peace, democracy, and brotherhood in Turkey and the region. He emphasized the importance of the Turkish Parliament as a key platform for the success of this process and urged all political groups in Turkey to take initiative without being hindered by short-term calculations.