 following a demonstration in the city in which they demanded an end to the solitary confinement of a jailed Kurdish leader and his ultimate release from prison, the Voice of America (VOA) Turkish edition reported.){kind=link}
The governor’s office in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakır has filed criminal complaints against lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) following a demonstration in the city in which they demanded an end to the solitary confinement of a jailed Kurdish leader and his ultimate release from prison, the Voice of America (VOA) Turkish edition reported.
The “Rally for Freedom Against Isolation” was held in Diyarbakır on Sunday with the attendance of more than 1,500 people during which protestors called for an end to the prison restrictions imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and his eventual release from prison.
The demonstration, organized by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the DEM Party, marked the 26th anniversary of the day Öcalan was forced to flee Syria under pressure from Turkey, an event that led to his eventual capture in Kenya in 1999.
It was held despite a ban from the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office, which said in a statement on Sunday that the complaints it filed against the lawmakers, who enjoy parliamentary immunity, stem from expressions in their press release that include the “elements of a crime.”
The governor’s office did not reveal which lawmakers are facing the complaints and on exactly what accusations; however, it said six demonstrators have been detained on allegations of disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The police barricaded the rally area in Yenişehir and prevented people from assembling. Participants, some of whom had traveled from other provinces, were denied entry into the zone. Despite the restrictions, DEM Party and DBP leaders persisted in their efforts to hold the rally.
Throughout the gathering, demonstrators frequently chanted slogans in support of Öcalan and Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who has been behind bars since November 2016 on politically motivated charges.
Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, co-chair of the DBP who was the first to address the crowd, argued that the root of Turkey’s political issues lay in the unresolved Kurdish issue, a term prevalent in Turkey’s public discourse that refers to the demand for equal rights by the country’s Kurdish population and their struggle for recognition.
She called on Turkish authorities to engage in dialogue with Öcalan to resolve the issue.
DEM Party Co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan echoed these sentiments, claiming that the path to peace in society in Turkey runs through both İmralı Island, where Öcalan has been serving a life sentence since 1999, and parliament.
“Öcalan is the hope of the Kurdish people for peace and the future. You cannot fit Öcalan into a cell. Turkey needs social peace. One address for achieving this social peace is İmralı. The other address is the parliament in Ankara. Open the doors of İmralı,” he said.
The developments come amid claims recently reported by the Al-Monitor news website that exploratory peace talks are underway between Ankara and the PKK despite an ongoing crackdown on Kurdish political figures.
According to the report, the reason for Ankara’s reconsideration of the resumption of dialogue with the PKK after an almost 10-year freeze in peace efforts is to prevent Iran from reaching out to Kurdish fighters to destabilize Turkey during a possible escalation with Israel.
The evolving situation has echoes of Turkey’s previous attempt at a peace process that collapsed in 2015. At that time President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan engaged in negotiations with Öcalan and his Syrian Kurdish allies, announcing a 10-point agreement that envisioned reforms loosening restrictions on Kurdish identity in return for the PKK laying down its arms. However, the peace process unraveled due to a combination of geopolitical factors, including US support for Syrian Kurdish groups in the fight against the Islamic State group as well as internal resistance from the Turkish military and Erdoğan’s far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).