A group of lawmakers and officials from Turkey’s leading pro-Kurdish party who played a key role in recent peace talks with jailed militant leader Abdullah Öcalan will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after the president gave his approval for such a meeting, according to Turkish media.
The delegation, which visited jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan several times in prison, will formally request an appointment with the president.
Their expected meeting comes shortly after Öcalan called for his Kurdish militant group to lay down its arms and disband, in a landmark declaration read out in İstanbul last month.
Erdoğan said earlier on Wednesday that he would personally meet with the delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which conducted the talks with Öcalan, if requested.
Following Erdoğan’s remarks, officials from the DEM Party announced that they would soon submit an official request for the meeting.
Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the DEM Party, talked about the significance of such a meeting, saying that as head of state, Erdoğan is a crucial figure in resolving the issue of ending the armed conflict between the state and the PKK.
“The president should meet with our delegation. Why wouldn’t he? He is one of the most important parties in solving the problem,” Bakırhan said.
Founded by Öcalan in 1978, the PKK has led a bloody war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984. The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
He further added that the meeting should not only involve Erdoğan but also other political parties to ensure a comprehensive approach to the solution of the problem.
He said delegation is ready to meet with the president as soon as their request is accepted.
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 if he would reject violence in a move endorsed by Erdoğan.
Öcalan, 75, has been serving a life sentence without parole on İmralı Island since his arrest in Nairobi in February 1999.
Since his detention 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.