The National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission, established in Parliament as part of the Peace and Democratic Society Process, has recently decided to convene to discuss a possible meeting with Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, held in İmralı Island Prison.
Last night, CHP (Republican People’ Party) Chairman Özgür Özel said that he would meet with the party’s members of the parliamentary commission on Thursday to discuss a possible visit to İmralı.
In this context, the AKP will also convene under the presidency of Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala and Group Chairman Abdullah Güler. The meeting, expected to take place in Parliament, will be held at 3:00 PM tomorrow, November 20.
Speaking at his party’s group meeting on Tuesday, MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) Chair Devlet Bahçeli said: “The debates on going to İmralı must come to an end. There is no point in dragging feet on visiting Imrali. If no one is willing to participate in this visit, I will take three colleagues with me; I would not hesitate to go to Imrali, nor would I refrain from sitting at the table face-to-face. With courage and confidence, I would say what I have to say while looking my counterpart directly in the eye.”
The meetings in question will take place amid repeated calls by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) for the parliamentary commission to go to the prison island of İmralı as soon as possible to hold direct talks with Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish leader’s inclusion in the current phase of the political debate. The DEM Party demands that Öcalan be granted with conditions to play his role as the main interlocutor of the process he started with his historic ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society’ in February following a call by Devlet Bahçeli in October last year.
While the Kurdistan freedom movement has announced its self-dissolution and disarmament since the launch of the process, the government is widely criticized for failing to take the necessary steps to advance the process, including the ‘Right to Hope’ for Öcalan and legal steps and transitional laws specific to the PKK or the process. The Kurdish freedom movement primarily demands physical freedom for Abdullah Öcalan so he can negotiate peace and solutions free from prison conditions. According to the movement, resolving the Kurdish question is impossible under Öcalan’s prison conditions.