Movements that put it in a completely new era have been observed lately, after the announcement on October 26 of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party () about the withdrawal of all its fighters from northern Iraq, as part of the peace process with the government.
Ocalan message
In a new message, the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan called for action “with seriousness and a sense of responsibility” to complete the peace process. Ocalan sent this message after a meeting he had with a delegation of the pro-Kurdish party DEM – the third political force in the Parliament – who visited him in his prison to discuss “the transition to the second phase of the agreement, that is to say the legal and political stage”.
As he said in his message: “We are making efforts to develop a positive phase and not a destructive and negative phase. The integration of the Kurdish phenomenon in all its dimensions within the legal framework of the Republic and a stable transition process must be the foundation”.
A cross-party parliamentary committee has been planning this transition to peace since August. He will mainly have to decide on the fate of Abdullah Ocalan and on possible security guarantees for his fighters.
The release of the 76-year-old Kurdish leader is at the center of the PKK’s demands. In September he was allowed to meet with his lawyers for the first time in six years.
Analysts say the PKK is weakened by decades of insurgency that has killed at least 50,000 people, according to an official count. And the Kurdish community, which represents an estimated 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 86 million, is exhausted by the long conflict.
Bahtceli’s intervention in favor of Selahattin Demirtas
Alongside the above, Turkish nationalist leader Devlet Bakhceli, Tayyip Erdogan’s government partner, said that “it would be beneficial” to release the former leader of the pro-Kurdish party Selahattin Demirtas.
The surprise announcement, made to reporters outside parliament, came a year after Bakhceli – who has previously pressed Erdogan for major policy changes – called for a peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has twice ruled in Demirtas’ case, saying his rights had been violated – but Erdogan’s government has for years ignored the court’s calls for his immediate release.
Turkey’s latest appeal against the ECtHR decision was rejected on Monday.
When asked about the court’s final decision on the case, Bakhceli, in the chambers of parliament, told reporters: “The legal process has been completed. His release would be beneficial for Turkey.”
The pro-Kurdish opposition party DEM, which was called HDP when it was led by Demirtas, remains the third largest party in parliament.
It has been the target of a years-long legal crackdown that has seen thousands of its officials and members jailed and many of its MPs and mayors removed from office.
