
Pro-Kurdish MPs to meet Erdogan after Ocalan talks
DEM, Turkiye's third biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and Ocalan, whose militant group the PKK in May ended its decades-long armed struggle and disband.
On Sunday, the delegation traveled to Imrali island where Ocalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement since 1999. They said they had had 'a very productive two-and-a-half hour meeting' with the 76-year-old former militant.
'He said he attached great importance our delegation's meeting with the president which was of a historic nature,' the delegation said in a statement.
'Similarly, he said the commission to be established in the Turkish (parliament) will also play a major role in directing the peace and the solution.'
With the process 'entering a new phase' it was very important everyone played their role, he told them.
'His hope, confidence and belief in the contribution of this process to the democratization of Turkiye as a whole is extremely strong,' they said.
The three-strong delegation that went to Imrali included lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar and lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol, DEM said.
The delegation would meet with DEM's leadership on Monday morning then Buldan and Sancar would head to the presidential palace for talks with Erdogan at 1200 GMT, it said.
The meeting came as the PKK was to hold a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan to start destroying a first tranche of weapons — which will likely take place on or around 10-12 July.
Erdogan said the move would give momentum to peace efforts with the Kurds.
The disarmament process is expected to unfold over the coming months.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Asharq Al-Awsat
14 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
7 more Turkish Soldiers Die from Methane Gas in Iraqi Cave, Raising Deaths to 12
Seven more Turkish soldiers have died from methane gas poisoning following a cave search operation in northern Iraq, Türkiye's Defense Ministry said Monday, bringing the death toll to 12. The soldiers had been searching for the remains of a fellow soldier previously killed by Kurdish militants. The troops were searching a mountain cave when 19 of them were exposed to the gas, according to the ministry. Five of the soldiers died Sunday from the colorless, odorless, flammable gas that can cause asphyxiation in sufficient concentration, and seven more succumbed on Monday, Reuters reported. 'We pray for God's mercy upon our heroic martyrs who lost their lives in this tragic event,' the ministry said Monday, also expressing hope for a rapid recovery for other troops that were affected. It said Defense Minister Yasar Guler and armed forces' commanders were traveling to the region to carry out 'inspections and evaluations' and attend a ceremony as the soldiers were flown to their hometowns for burial. Speaking at the ceremony, Guler commended the troops' 'great courage and sacrifice,' adding: 'Our grief is immense and our feelings are beyond words.' The ministry said the incident took place in the 'Claw-Lock Operation region' — a reference to an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq in April 2022. There was no immediate information on the condition of the seven other soldiers who were affected by the gas. Türkiye and the PKK have waged a 40-year conflict that has often spilled over into Iraq and Syria. Türkiye has set up a series of bases in northern Iraq, where the PKK has been established for decades. The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye and most of the West, announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict as part of a new peace initiative with Türkiye. Its fighters are expected to begin handing over their weapons over the next few days in the first concrete move toward disarmament. According to the ministry, the Turkish unit overcome by methane gas had been searching for the remains of an infantry officer killed by 'terrorist gunfire' during a search-and-clear mission in May 2022. Recovery teams have been scouring the area for the past three years. The cave where the incident occurred sits at an altitude of 852 meters (2,795 feet) and had previously been used by the PKK as a field hospital.

Al Arabiya
15 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Turkey pro-Kurdish party says it discussed PKK disarmament with Erdogan
Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party said a delegation met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to discuss disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and had conveyed the party's views and recommendations on the next potential steps. In a statement after the hour-long meeting, DEM also said the mutual will to move the process along was emphasized. Developing

Al Arabiya
17 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Istanbul mayor's jailed lawyer denounces ‘fabricated' charges
The lawyer for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who like the mayor is in jail under an expanding crackdown on Turkey's opposition, told Reuters on Monday he faces 'entirely fabricated' charges meant to criminalize the right to a legal defense. Mehmet Pehlivan, who had already been detained for a day in March, was held last month on charges of membership of an unspecified criminal organization. A probe into the main opposition party, Imamoglu's CHP, was expanded well beyond Istanbul at the weekend, and dozens were detained. The arrest in March of Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, sparked the biggest street protests in a decade, and a sharp selloff in the lira and other Turkish assets. In written responses from prison, Pehlivan said his arrest amounted to a bid to criminalize not only legal defense but the profession of lawyers as a whole: 'We are faced with a mindless judicial practice that has severed its ties with reality and truth.' Pehlivan said the evidence presented against him was false and based on a purported phone call and meetings he had never held, and alleged ties to a person he had never met. He said his work for Imamoglu had been restricted to his duties as a lawyer. 'For the first time in the Republic's history, the practicing the law has been categorized as a crime,' he wrote. 'Even if this categorization causes a result for me today, its impact is a threat to all lawyers.' The government rejects opposition allegations that the probe is politicized and anti-democratic, saying the judiciary is independent. In a statement on Sunday, Erdogan's office said that members of the ruling AK Party had also been investigated and arrested in the past over similar crimes. The office did not immediately respond to Pehlivan's allegation that the charges against him were baseless and a threat to legitimate legal activity.