ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A delegation from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) has asked the President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani to “relaunch the peace process” in Turkey, a statement from the Kurdish presidency’s office said. “Demirtas...said they are looking for president Barzani to start his efforts again to relaunch the peace process,” read the statement, referring to the co-chair of HDP Selahattin Demirtas, who led his party’s delegation and met with Barzani on Wednesday in Erbil. Barzani told the delegation he is ready to play his role regarding the peace process in Turkey, according to the statement from his office. The war between Ankara and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) was reignited last summer, ending two years of peace negotiations aimed at finally resolving the decades-old conflict. Barzani told the HDP delegation that the Kurdish nation has been divided between countries against its will, but has fought to preserve its identity. “We have now reached the stage of maintaining our achievements, and pushing forward our nation’s cause, and to do that we need peace, not war,” Barzani said, according to the statement. Demirtas said the Kurdish nation has suffered tremendously for the last 100 years at the hands of their respective countries, he said in a press conference following the meeting. But he warned that the Kurdish nation cannot place all the blame on their enemies alone. “We should criticize ourselves, too,” he said while complaining about the lack of unity between Kurdish parties in all four parts of Kurdistan, referring to the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, East Kurdistan or Rojhelat in Iran, West Kurdistan or Rojava in Syria, and North Kurdistan in Turkey. Demirtas also said that his party does not represent only Kurds, but maintained that they would work to achieve the “full rights” of the Kurdish people. Tweeting in English, HDP said its delegation and Barzani discussed “solidarity among Kurds.”
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