Chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş has asked the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Massoud Barzani, to help restart the peace process between the Turkish government and the Kurds, during a visit to the region.
In a recent visit to Irbil, Demirtaş met with Barzani as the KRG leader had reportedly promised to exert efforts for restarting a settlement process that was aborted following the June 2015 elections in Turkey.
Demirtaş reiterated that the Kurds’ only demand is to live freely in their own land, while Barzani stated that the only solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey was dialogue.
During his four-day trip to the KRG, Demirtaş along with a delegation from his party also met with former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Meanwhile, according to a report from Rudaw, the Iraqi Turkmen Front criticized a visit by the delegation to Kirkuk, saying that Kirkuk should not become part of the political calculations of Kurdish parties due to the unique nature of the city.