Latest news with #AysegulDogan
Rudaw Net
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Pro-Kurdish party demands guarantee for return of PKK fighters to Turkey
Also in Turkey Turkey's peace process commission to begin work in early August: Speaker Ocalan expects parliamentary commission will contribute to peace process Association calls on Zaza Kurds in Turkey to boost mother tongue Turkish parliament forms PKK peace talks commission A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Thursday called on the Turkish parliament to ensure that those members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who are willing to lay down weapons and return to Turkey will not face legal issues. The Turkish parliament last Friday announced the establishment of the 51-member peace process commission on Friday. Its mandate is to provide the necessary legal and political frameworks for the disarmament of the PKK - a key step in the ongoing peace talks between the group and the Turkish state. "The commission must take on a historic responsibility. Why do I call it historic? Because we are currently talking about Turkey's democratic deficiency,' Aysegul Dogan, DEM Party spokesperson, told Rudaw. Thirty PKK fighters laid down their arms in a ceremony in Kurdistan Region's Sulaimani province on July 11. 'If they want to return to Turkey, if they want to engage in politics, how should they do so? If they want to study, how? Some of them left school and joined the armed struggle. And today they say, with their own free will and political leadership's call, they are ready to make a decision. If they want to return and rejoin civilian life, how can this be done? This commission must lay out the legal and political conditions for disarmament,' stated Dogan. The multiparty commission is expected to include 21 members from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), ten from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and four each from the DEM Party and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Smaller parties will occupy the remaining seats. The DEM Party spokesperson noted that the commission cannot make decisions but recommend them to the parliament. "This commission cannot legislate on its own, because the Turkish parliament would not [allow that]. But the commission can make legal recommendations and refer them to the relevant parliamentary bodies. After those recommendations are made, they can be discussed in Turkey's general assembly, debated, and potentially passed into law. That is our hope,' she stated.
Al Arabiya
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Turkey's pro-Kurdish party confirms PKK to start weapons handover on Friday
Outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants will begin handing over weapons in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday as part of a peace process with Turkey, a spokesperson for Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party said on Wednesday. Speaking in Ankara, Aysegul Dogan said the PKK's disarmament process must be made permanent through a series of legal assurances and with the formation of necessary mechanisms for a transition to democratic politics. Dogan added that DEM members would attend the ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, along with a group of PKK militants, but said that she did not have further information about the process.
09-05-2025
- Politics
PKK militant group close to announcing decision to disband, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party says
ANKARA, Turkey -- A Kurdish militant group could soon announce a historic decision to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey to end a 40-year insurgency, a pro-Kurdish party suggested Friday. The armed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, whose leadership is based in northern Iraq, has already convened a long-awaited congress and could make an announcement 'at any moment,' according to Aysegul Dogan, a spokeswoman for the People's Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM. The PKK held a congress between May 5-7 in two locations in northern Iraq, according to a report Friday by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the group. The group said that 'historic' decisions taken at the congress would be shared with the public soon. The report also said a statement by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan outlining his 'perspectives and proposals' were read during the congress. In February, Ocalan called on his group to lay down arms and dissolve itself in a bid to end the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. The outlawed PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and most Western states, announced a ceasefire days later but had set conditions to disband, including the establishment of a legal mechanism for peace talks. The latest peace initiative was launched in October by Devlet Bahceli, a far-right Turkish politician who suggested that Ocalan, who is imprisoned on an island off Istanbul, could be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
PKK militant group close to announcing decision to disband, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party says
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish militant group could soon announce a historic decision to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey to end a 40-year insurgency, a pro-Kurdish party suggested Friday. The armed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, whose leadership is based in northern Iraq, has already convened a long-awaited congress and could make an announcement 'at any moment,' according to Aysegul Dogan, a spokeswoman for the People's Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM. The PKK held a congress between May 5-7 in two locations in northern Iraq, according to a report Friday by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the group. The group said that 'historic' decisions taken at the congress would be shared with the public soon. The report also said a statement by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan outlining his 'perspectives and proposals' were read during the congress. In February, Ocalan called on his group to lay down arms and dissolve itself in a bid to end the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. The outlawed PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and most Western states, announced a ceasefire days later but had set conditions to disband, including the establishment of a legal mechanism for peace talks. The latest peace initiative was launched in October by Devlet Bahceli, a far-right Turkish politician who suggested that Ocalan, who is imprisoned on an island off Istanbul, could be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands. Previous peace efforts between Turkey and the group have ended with failure — the most recent time in 2015.
Toronto Star
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
PKK militant group close to announcing decision to disband, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party says
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish militant group could soon announce a historic decision to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey to end a 40-year insurgency, a pro-Kurdish party suggested Friday. The armed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, whose leadership is based in northern Iraq, has already convened a long-awaited congress and could make an announcement 'at any moment,' according to Aysegul Dogan, a spokeswoman for the People's Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM.
