Demonstrators march to demand the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, Saturday Feb. 15, 2025.(AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
DAILY MAIL ONLINE | Published February 16, 2025
BAGHDAD (AP) – A Turkish opposition party delegation arrived in Iraq´s semiautonomous Kurdish region Sunday against the backdrop of peace efforts between Ankara and a banned Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey.
The delegation led by Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan, two senior officials with the pro-Kurdish People´s Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, in Turkey, met with Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party – the dominant Kurdish party in Iraq – in Irbil Sunday.
Barzani´s office said in a statement that they discussed “the peace process in Turkey” and that the Turkish delegation conveyed a message from Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of Turkey´s banned Kurdistan Workers´ Party, or PKK.
Barzani “stressed the need for all parties to intensify their efforts and endeavors to enable the peace process to achieve the desired results” and reiterated “his full readiness to provide assistance and support to the peace process in Turkey and make it a success,” the statement said.
The DEM party has long pressed for greater democracy in Turkey and rights for the country´s Kurdish population, and also to improve conditions for the imprisoned Ocalan.
Ocalan, 75, founded the PKK, in 1978, which began an armed insurrection for an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkey´s southeast in 1984, costing tens of thousands of lives. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. The central Iraqi government in Baghdad announced a ban on the group, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, last year.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters patrol the area during a demonstration to demand the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, Saturday Feb. 15, 2025.(AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Captured in 1999 and convicted of treason, Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on Imrali island in the Marmara Sea.
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally had an antagonistic relationship with the left-wing DEM party, frequently ousting its elected officials on charges of ties to the PKK and replacing them with state appointed officials.
However, this icy relationship began thawing last October, when Erdogan´s coalition partner, far-right nationalist politician Devlet Bahceli suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole, if his group renounces violence and disbands.
The peace effort comes at a time when Erdogan may need support from the DEM party in parliament to enact a new constitution that could allow him to stay in power for unlimited terms.
The Turkish Constitution doesn’t allow Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 as prime minister and later as president, to run for office again unless an early election is called – something that would also require the support of the pro-Kurdish party.
Even as the latest peace efforts are underway, Erdogan´s government has widened a crackdown on the opposition, arresting journalists and politicians. Several elected Kurdish mayors have been ousted from office and replaced with state appointed officials, the latest this Saturday, when the mayor of Van municipality in eastern Turkey was removed from his post and replaced with the state-appointed governor.
Meanwhile, conflict is ongoing between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
RELATED: Turkish pro-Kurd MPs meet veteran Kurdish leader in Iraq
A handout picture provided by the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader on February 16, 2025, shows the KDP chief Masoud Barzani (R) meeting with Co-leader of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Pervin Buldan in Barzani’s office in Erbil. (Via AFP)
ENGLISH-AL ARABIYA | Published February 16, 2025
Pro-Kurdish Turkish lawmakers conveyed a message Sunday to Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani from Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who is expected to decide on a long-awaited peace process with Turkey.
A delegation from the main pro-Kurdish DEM party visited Ocalan twice over the past six weeks, and then held talks with Turkey’s main parliamentary factions.
Although no timing has been set for Ocalan’s statement, Kurdish politicians are confident it will be soon, and no later than Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year, in March.
The Turkish delegation, which included two DEM lawmakers who met Ocalan, visited Barzani near Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, and conveyed a “message” to him from the jailed leader, Barzani’s office said.
The delegation also “offered their views on the political situation and the peace process in Turkey, and they shared the details and outcomes of their meetings” with Ocalan, Barzani’s office added.
According to the statement, Barzani said he is “fully prepared to assist and support the peace process in Turkey.”
He stressed that “the peace process is the only right way to reach a solution,” urging all parties to “focus their efforts” on achieving it.
Barzani, who heads the region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is a crucial powerbroker in Kurdish affairs.
The meeting with Barzani lasted nearly two hours, during which the Kurdish leader offered “his suggestions and insights” regarding the peace process, the DEM party said in a statement.
During a three-day visit, the delegation will also meet Kurdistan’s regional president, Nechirvan Barzani, the region’s deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani, and his brother Bafel, the chief of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party.
Ocalan’s PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, holds positions in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases.
With peace efforts frozen for nearly a decade, Turkey’s hardline nationalist MHP party offered an unexpected olive branch to Ocalan in October, urging him to renounce violence in exchange for a possible early release from Imrali island, where he has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement since 1999.
Backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the call has renewed hopes of an end to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.
