DIYARBAKIR, Turkey – Abdullah Ocalan believes that the peace process in Turkey with his Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has stepped into a new phase and should be pursued with sincerity, according to a delegation that met with the jailed leader this week.
On behalf of Ocalan, the delegation from the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) said at a press conference in Diyarbakir (Amed) on Tuesday that: “The peace deal has reached a new stage and anyone who wants peace and a solution should remain hopeful.”
In a message delivered to his supporters and the Kurds in Turkey through the HDP leaders, Ocalan asked “the signatories of the peace deal to carry the process forward by practice.”
After more than three decades of fighting, the PKK and Turkey signed a peace deal in March last year that called for the withdrawal of guerrilla fighters from Turkey and a halt to Turkish military operations in the Kurdish areas.
“The most important thing in the last meeting was that Ocalan says the peace process has stepped into a new phase,” said Fazil Husnu Erdem, a member of the Wise Men Committee, a consultative body created by the Turkish government to help shape public opinion about the peace deal. “This means that Ocalan wants the process to continue in an open and clear way,” Erdem added.
The HDP delegates said that Ocalan urged both sides -- the Turkish army and the PKK -- to practice restraint and avoid provocations.
Some observers believe that Turkish authorities have come to see the benefits of meetings between Kurdish politicians and the PKK leader, and that more visits to his island prison should be allowed.
“What is good about these meetings is that it is politicians who carry it out and politicians know what needs to change -- what laws should be considered in this process -- and they have the power to follow it through,” Kurdish lawyer Vahap Coskun told Rudaw.
Following the meeting with Ocalan, a conference is expected in Diyarbakir in the coming days to discuss the peace process and its progress. Members of the Wise Men Committee, civil activists and lawyers will attend the conference.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said this week that, unless Ankara takes steps to show its commitment to the peace process in practice, demonstrations and civil activities in Kurdish cities will continue.
BDP co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Gultan Kisanak said that the demonstrations do not only oppose more military bases in Kurdish regions; they are demands for Turkey to take concrete steps to implement the peace process.
BDP leaders said in a statement that Turkey has not reciprocated the PKK withdrawal of fighters that took place last year, and that the Turkish army is building more bases and checkpoints in the Kurdish areas.
