, is working on a "democratic" settlement to the four-decade-long conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militants, a pro-Kurdish party delegation member said on Monday after wrapping up talks in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.){kind=link}
Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is working on a “democratic” settlement to the four-decade-long conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militants, a pro-Kurdish party delegation member said on Monday after wrapping up talks in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) party visited Öcalan twice in past weeks and then had talks with Turkey’s main parliamentary groups before traveling to Iraq last weekend.
The delegation, which included two DEM Party lawmakers as well as Keskin Bayındır from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), which has two seats in the Turkish parliament, met with Kurdistan’s regional president Nechirvan Barzani in Arbil.
“Mr. Öcalan is working hard to find a process that could lead to a solution despite all the difficult conditions,” Bayındır told reporters after the meeting.
“He is working to remove this issue from the field of war and conflict and to establish a democratic and legal process” to resolve the conflict, he added.
“This roadmap will also stop the crises in the Middle East,” Bayındır said.
Although no timing has been set for presenting Öcalan’s plan, Kurdish politicians are confident it will be soon, and no later than Nevruz, the Kurdish New Year, in March.
Barzani said he “hopes the PKK adopts a strategic vision towards the process,” adding that today’s opportunity “must not be missed.”
“Experience has proven that war and weapons do not solve any problem,” Barzani said in a statement following the meeting.
He added that he is prepared to offer “full assistance and support” to ensure the success of the peace process, which he described as “an important and historic opportunity.”
Meeting with Masoud Barzani
The pro-Kurdish party delegation also met with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Sunday and conveyed a message to him from Öcalan.
The delegation visited Barzani near Arbil and conveyed a “message” to him from the jailed leader, Barzani’s office said.
The delegation also “offered their views on the political situation and the peace process in Turkey, and they shared the details and outcomes of their meetings” with Öcalan, Barzani’s office added.
According to the statement, Barzani said he is “fully prepared to assist and support the peace process in Turkey.”
He stressed that “the peace process is the only right way to reach a solution,” urging all parties to “focus their efforts” on achieving it.
Barzani, who heads the region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is a crucial powerbroker in Kurdish affairs.
The meeting with Barzani lasted nearly two hours, during which the Kurdish leader offered “his suggestions and insights” regarding the peace process, the DEM Party said in a statement.
The delegation will have talks in Sulaymaniyah on Tuesday.
Militants from Öcalan’s PKK, which has waged a decades-long war against the Turkish state, operate in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases.
With peace efforts frozen for nearly a decade, Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) unexpectedly offered an olive branch to Öcalan in October.
It urged him to renounce violence in exchange for a possible early release from a prison on İmralı Island, where he has been serving a life sentence since 1999.
Backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the call has renewed hopes of an end to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.
© Agence France-Presse