Turkey’s Pro-Kurdish Party Sets July 23 for Jailed PKK Leader Visit
A delegation from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party will visit imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on July 23, marking the latest step in ongoing political talks between the opposition and the ruling government.
Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar, and Faik Özgür Erol are scheduled to meet Öcalan on July 23, following a previous visit on May 24 [198693]. The delegation previously stated it aims to meet with Öcalan as soon as possible, after holding two days of talks with the ruling AKP and the nationalist MHP parties [198701].
Separately, the DEM Party’s executive board has convened to discuss the status of Turkey’s peace process, recent Middle East developments, and preparations for a party congress scheduled for September [197380]. Meanwhile, a delegation from the pro-Kurdish opposition met with AKP deputy chairman Efkan Ala on Wednesday night, though Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş did not attend as previously expected. The meeting covered “current agenda items” but did not include a briefing on the AKP’s draft “Framework Law” [197373].
The developments come as Syria’s main Kurdish party, the PYD, accused Turkey of approaching the integration of Kurdish forces into the Syrian state based on its own domestic peace process rather than Syria’s needs [196134].