Ocalan’s Release: PKK’s Condition to Continue Peace Agreement Compliance with Turkey
The English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency and Al Jazeera, reported that a senior member of the PKK emphasized that the party will not take any additional actions in its peace process with ankara and urged Turkey to first free Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s leader.
According to the report, senior PKK official Amed Mela Zagîret told Agence France-Presse, “We have implemented all measures initiated by Öcalan. After these steps, ther will be no further actions.”
From his residence in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq-the main stronghold of PKK fighters-he added, “From now on, we await necessary measures from the Turkish government.”
He also reiterated two core demands for continuing the peace process: “The release of Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on İmralı Island since 1999,” and ”the official recognition of Kurds within Turkey’s constitution.”
About a week ago, members of a Turkish parliamentary committee responsible for overseeing peace talks with the PKK met with Abdullah Öcalan inside his prison for the first time.
The Speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly said in a statement that this meeting at İmralı Island prison near Istanbul ”has yielded positive results.”
The statement noted that discussions focused on conditions for dissolving and disarming the PKK as well as plans to integrate Kurdish fighters into Syria’s new army.
This development comes six months after the PKK formally declared-at Öcalan’s request-that it would cease armed struggle against Turkey following nearly four decades marked by about 50,000 deaths.
Last year, Turkey held indirect negotiations with the PKK. In February this year, from prison Öcalan urged his supporters to “stop armed fighting and pursue their cause through democratic methods.”
