 leader Abdullah Öcalan in prison and interview him, at a time when he is expected to make a “historic call” aimed at ending a 40-year conflict between the state and the PKK, the Bianet news website reported.){kind=link}
Three journalists have asked the Turkish Justice Ministry for permission to visit outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan in prison and interview him, at a time when he is expected to make a “historic call” aimed at ending a 40-year conflict between the state and the PKK, the Bianet news website reported.
Journalists Nezahat Doğan, Dicle Müftüoğlu and Diren Yurtsever petitioned the ministry on Friday for permission.
Müftüoğlu, who is also the co-chair of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, made a brief statement after submitting her petition and said journalists have been closely monitoring the discussions surrounding the ongoing peace talks with Öcalan. However, little is known about the views of the jailed PKK leader, who is a “key figure” in these negotiations.
Müftüoğlu said she and her two colleagues are eager to hear Öcalan’s perspective in person regarding the resolution of the conflict between the state and the PKK.
“As journalists, it is our duty to inform society, and so we would like to ask him questions,” she added.
While there has been no confirmation from the Turkish government, the possibility of a new peace initiative has been the subject of political debate in Ankara, with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) visiting Öcalan in prison twice recently.
The process gained momentum after Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of Erdoğan, made an unexpected call for Öcalan to be allowed to address the DEM Party’s parliamentary group meeting and urge the PKK to disband.
The PKK has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984, with tens of thousands of people killed in the conflict.
Last week, DEM Party Co-chairperson Tuncay Bakırhan, who spoke at a party meeting, said Öcalan is preparing to make a “historic call” in the coming days, without elaborating on what the content would be.
According to Turkish media, Öcalan may call for the dissolution of the PKK or a full withdrawal of its armed elements from Turkey.
Öcalan, who founded the PKK nearly half a century ago to fight for Kurdish rights, has been held in a high-security prison on İmralı Island since 1999.
After his first meeting with DEM Party lawmakers in December, Öcalan had said that a rapprochement between Turks and Kurds was a “historic responsibility” and that he was “determined” to participate in the Ankara-led reconciliation effort.
Critics of the peace talks say the public is given little information about the discussions’ content. They question what concessions Turkey will offer to persuade the PKK to lay down its arms and what steps the government will take to improve the cultural, political and linguistic rights of the Kurds, who have been fighting for these rights for many years.
In 2015 a peace attempt initiated by Ankara broke down, unleashing a wave of violence in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.