Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in Ankara on Thursday for their third meeting this year, with both sides agreeing on steps to advance an ongoing peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The one-hour meeting at the presidential palace was also attended by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) head İbrahim Kalın.
The DEM Party delegation was composed of Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Van lawmaker Pervin Buldan and Şanlıurfa MP Mithat Sancar.
The DEM Party, Turkey’s third largest political party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, whose militant group, the PKK, in May announced the end of its decades-long armed conflict and decided to disband in line with a call made by Öcalan in February.
DEM Parti İmralı Heyeti Üyeleri Pervin Buldan ve Mithat Sancar, Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan ile Beştepe’de bir görüşme gerçekleştirdi.
Heyetimiz, yaklaşık 1 saat süren görüşmede Barış ve Demokratik Toplum Sürecinin geldiği aşama ile bundan sonra yapılacaklara ilişkin görüş ve… pic.twitter.com/wgNl2773UX
— DEM Parti (@DEMGenelMerkezi) October 30, 2025
In a written statement after the meeting, the DEM Party delegation said they and Erdoğan’s team discussed the current phase of the “Peace and Democratic Society Process” and reached consensus on how to move it forward.
“We are pleased to announce that we share mutual understanding and agreement on taking steps that will ensure the process advances faster and more soundly,” the statement read.
The delegation’s previous meetings with Erdoğa were held on April 10 and July 7. The first marked the resumption of dialogue after a 13-year hiatus and was attended by Buldan and then-deputy speaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who passed away the following month.
Before Thursday’s talks the delegation met with DEM Party Co-chairs Tuncer Bakırhan and Tülay Hatimoğulları following their visit to İmralı Island, where they had discussions with Öcalan.
The renewed dialogue comes shortly afterthe PKK announced last weekend that it would begin withdrawing its forces from Turkey as part of the ongoing peace efforts.
Founded by Öcalan in 1978, the PKK has waged a decades-long war in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The peace talks were initiated by a surprise call from Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and an ally of Erdoğan, when he offered Öcalan a surprise peace gesture in October 2024 if he would reject violence, in a move endorsed by Erdoğan.
Since Öcalan’s arrest in 1999, there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed that erupted in 1984 and has cost more than 40,000 lives. The last round of talks collapsed in a storm of violence in 2015.