Turkiye to allow pro-Kurdish party to visit jailed PKK founder
Al Jazeera
DEM Party expected to hold face-to-face meeting with Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in prison for 25 years.
Turkiye will allow parliament’s pro-Kurdish party to visit the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on his island prison, setting up the first such visit in nearly a decade.
The Justice Ministry approved a request by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) to meet Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving life in solitary confinement, a DEM spokesperson said late on Friday.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc confirmed the move in remarks to the TGRT news channel.
“We responded positively to DEM’s request for a meeting. Depending on the weather conditions, they will go to Imrali tomorrow [Saturday] or Sunday,” he said, referring to the prison island where Ocalan has been held for 25 years.
Friday’s decision came after DEM requested the visit last month, soon after a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expanded on a proposal to end the 40-year-old conflict between the state and Ocalan’s outlawed PKK.
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