PKK urges Turkiye to ease leader's solitary confinement for any peace talks
The Kurdish group, blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies, announced on May 12 it had adopted a decision to disarm and disband after a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that cost more than 40,000 lives.
The group's historic decision came after an appeal by Ocalan, made in a letter from Istanbul's Imrali prison island where he has been held since 1999.
Zagros Hiwa, spokesman for the PKK's political wing, told AFP on Monday that 'we expect that the Turkish state makes amendments in the solitary confinement conditions' to allow Ocalan 'free and secure work conditions so that he could lead the process.'
'Leader Apo is our chief negotiator' for any talks with Türkiye, Hiwa added in an interview, referring to Ocalan.
'Only Leader Apo can lead the practical implementation of the decision taken by the PKK.'
The disbanding mechanisms are unclear yet, but the Turkish government has said it would carefully monitor the process to ensure full implementation.
Hiwa said the PKK has shown 'seriousness regarding peace,' but 'till now the Turkish state has not given any guarantees and taken any measure for facilitating the process' and continued its 'bombardments and artillery shellings' against the Kurdish group's positions.
The PKK operates rear bases in Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdistan region, where Türkiye also maintains military bases and often carries out air and ground operations against the Kurdish militants.
Turkish media reports have suggested that militants who had committed no crime on Turkish soil could return without fear of prosecution, but that PKK leaders might be forced into exile or stay behind in Iraq.
Hiwa said the PKK objects to its members or leaders being forced to leave, saying that 'real peace requires integration, not exile.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Nordic-Baltic leaders say they remain steadfast in support of Ukraine
The leaders of eight Nordic-Baltic nations said on Saturday that they remain steadfast in their support for Ukraine and to the efforts by US President Donald Trump to end the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden said in a statement that achieving peace between Ukraine and Russia requires a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine. 'We welcome President Trump's statement that the US is prepared to participate in security guarantees. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine's armed forces or on its cooperation with other countries,' the statement said. Trump has said that he had agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies, until now with US support, have demanded.
Al Arabiya
12 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Zelenskyy says will meet Trump in Washington, ready for cooperation
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will head to Washington on Monday to discuss 'ending the killing and the war' with US President Donald Trump, he announced Saturday. Zelenskyy said so after holding a call with Trump, during which the US leader informed him about the 'main points' of his talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska. 'On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war,' Zelenskyy said. 'I am grateful for the invitation.' Zelenskyy said he had a 'long and substantive conversation with Trump', which began as a one-on-one talk, before being joined by European leaders. The Washington meeting is set to take place three days after Trump's talks with Putin in Alaska ended with no ceasefire announcement or apparent breakthrough to end Moscow's more than three-year-long invasion. The day after the US-Russia summit, Zelenskyy called for Kyiv's European allies to be involved at 'every stage' of talks. The Ukrainian leader said that Kyiv is ready for constructive cooperation and supports trilateral meeting of leaders of US, Ukraine and Russia. 'Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,' Zelenskyy said on X social network. 'We support President Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,' he added.
Al Arabiya
12 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Russian politicians hail Putin-Trump summit as victory for Moscow
In the early hours of Saturday morning following a summit in Alaska between the leaders of Russia and the United States, senior politicians in Moscow were quick to trumpet the meeting as a win for Russia and its narrative of the war in Ukraine. 'The meeting in Alaska confirmed Russia's desire for peace, long-term and fair,' said Andrei Klishas, a senior lawmaker from President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. He portrayed the summit as a coup for Russia and a loss for Ukraine and its European allies, who have been pushing for an unconditional ceasefire. 'The tasks of the SMO will be accomplished either by military or diplomatic means,' Klishas wrote, using the acronym for Special Military Operation, the Kremlin's term for the war. 'A new architecture for European and international security is on the agenda, and everyone must accept it.' The highly-anticipated summit on Friday in Anchorage yielded no agreement to resolve or pause the conflict, now in its fourth year, although both Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump described the talks as productive. The two men met for nearly three hours before giving a brief media appearance and boarding separate planes home. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president known for his hawkish views, said the summit proved that it was possible to hold talks without conditions - as Moscow has insisted - while the fighting in Ukraine rages on. Russia's flagship Channel One morning state news bulletin on Saturday stressed the pageantry around the summit, its global profile, and the warm welcome extended to Putin, who had been ostracized by Western leaders since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 'The Red carpet, handshakes and footage and photographs that are in all global publications and TV channels,' it said, saying it was the first time that Trump had met a visiting leader off their plane at the airport. Its correspondent in Alaska said the two leaders had obviously agreed about a lot of things, but did not say what those things were. 'The very fact of the meeting in Alaska, its tone, and its outcome represent a significant and joint success for both presidents, each of whom made a tremendous personal contribution to achieving the best possible result at this time,' Konstantin Kosachyov, a chair of the foreign affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, wrote on Telegram. Other commentators struck a sourer tone. Writing for War Gonzo, a pro-war Telegram channel with over 800,000 subscribers, one blogger praised Putin's remarks as 'quite strong', but added that the meeting had delivered no visible outcomes beyond the mere fact that it took place. 'What will happen next? If our strikes on Ukrainian regime targets resume, Trump will have a reason to declare once again that 'Putin is talking nonsense' and to impose sanctions and interrupt the negotiation process that has begun,' wrote the blogger, Old Miner.
