DEM Party set to continue talks with Öcalan next week
ANKARA
The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has announced that a delegation will travel to İmrali prison island off Istanbul next week to continue contacts with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as part of the government’s "terror-free Türkiye" campaign.
The delegation will include co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, along with the central executive committee members, party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said on Sept. 9 at a press briefing in Ankara.
Doğan also renewed the party’s call for a parliamentary commission established to oversee the process to meet with Öcalan.
"If you don’t meet with Öcalan, you lose your focus," she said. "You can’t build something new with old habits. You have to break out of the mold."
A DEM Party delegation, including MPs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, last met with Öcalan on Aug. 28 on İmralı. That meeting was the first since the commission was established.
Under the government-backed initiative, PKK initially declared a ceasefire before announcing its decision to disband and disarm.
Doğan also criticized the removal of the CHP’s Istanbul administration over alleged irregularities in its 2023 provincial congress.
"We are facing an unlawful situation. The trustees appointed to municipalities by undermining the will of the people have now extended their reach to congresses," she said. "We oppose these anti-democratic practices, regardless of which political party they target."
Doğan said the move contradicts the motivation behind the new peace initiative, which aims to "abandon anti-democratic practices and take new steps towards democratization."
