A delegation from the Peoples’ Party for Equality and Democracy (DEM Party) left for the Turkish prison island of Imrali on Tuesday to visit Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned there since 1999. The Imrali delegation includes Deputy Speaker of Parliament Pervin Buldan, her parliamentary colleague Mithat Sancar, and lawyer Faik Özgür Erol from the Istanbul-based Asrın Law Office, which has been representing Öcalan and his fellow prisoners for years.
This is the first visit to the island since a trip by members of the “Commission for National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy” established by the Turkish Parliament, who held talks with Öcalan about a week ago as part of the ongoing rapprochement process between the Turkish state and the Kurdish freedom movement.
The Commission for National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy was established in the summer. The commission’s goal is to find ways to overcome social tensions and promote sustainable dialogue between different population groups. The commission’s work, in which almost all parties represented in parliament are involved, focuses on approaches to resolving the Kurdish question.