Pro-Kurdish lawmakers visit Abdullah Ocalan as PKK to destroy arms
Lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar traveled with lawyer Ozgur Faik Erol to Imrali prison island near Istanbul where Ocalan has been serving a life in solitary since 1999, a DEM statement said.
The talks came ahead of a planned ceremony by PKK militants in Iraqi Kurdistan at which they said they would begin destroying a first tranche of weapons -- due on or around 10-12 July.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday the move would give momentum to peace efforts with the Kurds, telling reporters he would also meet the DEM delegation.
That meeting is expected to happen next week.
In February, Ocalan urged the PKK to end its armed struggle and disband, which the group formally did in May, drawing a line under a decades-long conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
The disarmament process is expected to unfold over the coming months.
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