ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday received a senior delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in Ankara, in a rare meeting seen as a potential breakthrough in stalled peace efforts between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The DEM Party, which has been mediating indirect talks between the Turkish government and the PKK since late last year, said its lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder met with Erdogan after months of efforts to secure the meeting.
“We have brought the process to this point with great will and determination. We have approached it with care, and everyone has shown the same sensitivity,” Onder told reporters ahead of the meeting, expressing gratitude “to the whole country” for its support.
Buldan also spoke to reporters before the meeting, saying, “The President will perhaps share his views on this issue with us for the first time. He will tell us what he thinks needs to be done, and we will brief him on all the meetings we have held. Perhaps we will issue a written statement after the meeting.”
The meeting followed Erdogan’s announcement on Wednesday that his long-anticipated meeting with the DEM Party would take place the next day.
The meeting could be a significant step in the ongoing talks.
The DEM Party said in a statement that the meeting was held in a "very positive, constructive, productive and promising atmosphere for the future," adding that the status of the peace talks is currently "better than yesterday."
DEM Party delegates have held numerous meetings with Turkey’s key political parties, as well as the Kurdistan Region’s top officials and ruling parties to convey Ocalan’s peace message.
Though the peace talks have slowed down in recent weeks, the planned meeting with Erdogan could revitalize efforts to end the conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has claimed over 40,000 lives since its 1984 onset.
The PKK has expressed willingness to uphold Ocalan’s call for peace and declared a unilateral ceasefire but has accused Turkey of continuing to carry out attacks against its members. The group also demanded a physical meeting with Ocalan as a precondition for the success of the peace process.
Founded in 1978, the PKK began its armed struggle against Ankara four years later. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.
