Türkiye’s DEM Party to reveal Öcalan’s peace message, calls for PKK disarmament

Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party is set to hold a press conference on February 27 to discuss talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and share an anticipated statement from him.

A senior party official confirmed  that the press conference would follow a meeting with Öcalan, which has been authorized by the Turkish Justice Ministry, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

This meeting will mark the third such visit to Öcalan since December, with permission granted for a DEM delegation to visit him. The visit is considered part of a broader initiative to encourage Öcalan to urge the PKK separatist group to disarm, potentially bringing an end to the four-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The DEM Party has announced that the press conference will take place at 5 PM local time in Istanbul, and it is hoped that Öcalan's message will be delivered in video format to maximize its impact. However, there has been opposition to the idea of a video message from government sources, given the sensitivities surrounding the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union.

Veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk has also applied to be part of the visiting delegation, according to DEM Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan. The delegation will consist of seven members, including Ahmet Türk, DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, DEM Party MPs Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Pervin Buldan, and Cengiz Çiçek, and Öcalan’s lawyer Faik Özgür Erol.

The press conference will be publicly broadcast in the eastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Van, where the DEM Party has invited people to join in welcoming Öcalan’s "honorable call for peace."

Öcalan has been held in near-total isolation on the prison island of İmralı since 1999, with limited communication with the outside world.

By Vafa Guliyeva