Turkish pro-Kurdish delegation visits Ocalan as PKK disarms

A delegation from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party met with jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan on July 6th, as Kurdish fighters prepared to start destroying their arms, according to The New Arab plus agencies.

The party announced that lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, along with lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol, visited Ocalan at Imrali prison, near Istanbul, where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.

The visit comes ahead of a planned PKK disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan, scheduled between July 10th and 12th, during which the group is expected to destroy an initial tranche of weapons.

On July 5th, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the move, saying it could help advance peace efforts with the Kurdish movement.

“The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms,” he told reporters, according to Anadolu Agency on July 5th. Erdogan also confirmed he would meet with the DEM delegation.

Ocalan had previously called on the PKK to disband and abandon its armed struggle in February. The group formally announced its decision to do so in May, with the full disarmament expected to unfold gradually in the coming months. The conflict, which has lasted for decades, has killed over 40,000 people.

However, PKK official Mustafa Karasu recently criticised Turkey for what he described as a lack of reciprocal action. He accused the government of failing to improve Ocalan’s prison conditions and continuing military strikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq. He also claimed the government had “not taken the needed steps” towards peace.

The New Arab plus agencies, Anadolu Agency, Maghrebi.org