“Those in Oslo, who are trying to make the perception that a new peace process, will begin shall know that the peace and dialogue process will not begin as long as there is a giant lock on the gate of Imrali Prison,” Buldan said during the party’s extraordinary provincial congress in Izmir.
The prison holds PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who is serving life in prison for leading a sometimes armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1978.
She referred to a group primarily comprised of intellectuals known as “Wise People” who worked toward the restoration of the most-recent, short-lived peace process between the state and PKK.
The committee was established in 2013 in a bid to explain the peace process progress. They included Kurds who were seen to be apolitical.
A discussion was held by the UK-based Democratic Progress Institute (DPI) on November 23 in Sweden’s Oslo under the title: “Supporting inclusive dialogue at a challenging time in Turkey.”
Buldan also talked about the imprisonment of HDP members and senior officials such as former co-chair Selahattin Demirtas who has not been released despite the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) decision urging for Ankara to release him.
She blamed the government for not complying with the ruling, adding that “the ruling is not political but legal.”
The HDP leaders were acting as moderators between Turkish government and the outlawed PKK in 2013’s truce between the two sides. However, the peace process only lasted until summer 2015 when deadly war occurred between them in Kurdish areas. Each blamed the other for violating the truce.
The HDP is the second-largest opposition party in the Turkish parliament. Dozens of its leaders have been arrested, detained, and/or jailed with little due process on claims of supporting the PKK. HDP members universally deny links to the banned political party which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization.
The European court’s ruling is seen as the strongest indictment of Turkey’s judicial system. A Turkish court reasoned the ECoHR decision had not been finalized and unanimously rejected Demirtas’ appeal for his release.
