In a non-standard move Devlet Bahceli the nationalist party leader suggested that parliamentʼs Kurdish party should talk directly with Abdullah Ocalan whoʼs been locked up on Imrali island since late 90s
The proposal comes as a follow-up to Bahcelis earlier idea (which he made about month ago) to maybe free Ocalan if he tells his group to stop fighting. President Erdogan called this a historic chance but hasnt said much more about it
The DEM Party which is now third-biggest in parliament quickly asked to meet with Ocalan: “We want to help solve the Kurdish problem and make Turkey more democratic“ said Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit from DEM
This whole thing started back in mid-80s — since then about 40k people died in fights that moved from south-east Turkey to north Iraq. Ocalan hasnt seen many visitors but his nephew got to see him recently which was first family visit in like 4-5 years
The government seems to be doing two different things at once: while talks about peace are happening police just picked-up 231 people they think work with PKK; also govt kicked-out 5 Kurdish mayors in south-east cities earlier this month
- PKK is seen as terrorist group by Turkey and its friends
- Fighting now happens mostly in north Iraq
- DEMʼs old party talked with Ocalan about 10 years back
- Nobody knows if this new try will work