Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met members of the pro-Kurdish DEM party for the first time since 2012.
The talks, which took place on Thursday, were part of efforts to end a 47-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which called a ceasefire in March after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called for it to disarm.
DEM, which has played a role in negotiations with Mr Ocalan, said the encounter was “extremely positive, constructive and hopeful”.
Iraq-based Kurdish website Rudaw called the meeting a “potential breakthrough in stalled peace efforts”.
Talks which began last October between parliamentarians and Ocalan have produced no concrete results. To give impetus to the discussions, Ocalan has offered key concessions to Ankara.
At the end of February, he called for a unilateral PKK ceasefire and dissolution of PKK paramilitaries. Ocalan said Kurds could achieve their demands through Turkey’s democratic system. This amounted to a significant policy shift. The leftist PKK was founded in 1978 to fight for an independent Kurdish region in Turkey’s southeast and was branded a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, Europe and Britain.
While Erdogan has made a show of talking to the Kurdish lawmakers about a peace deal, Ankara has not matched Ocalan’s concessions. Erdogan has not met the Kurdish demand for Ocalan’s release from prison so the leaders can negotiate an end to the war which has killed 40,000 people.
The Turkish army has continued to attack PKK positions in northern Iraq and to back pro-Turkish Syrian militia groups which fight the US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria. Turkey regards this group as a PKK offshoot.
In recent months DEM party mayors have been removed from office and replaced by government loyalists.
Kurdish trust in Erdogan has also been eroded by the March 19th arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition Republican People’s Party candidate for president. He was charged with corruption and contacts with the PKK. He was Erdogan’s popular rival in the 2028 presidential election.
There is a two-term limit to the Turkish presidency. Erdogan, who is in his second term as president, has two options to secure a third. The election could be held early or he could press for amendment to the constitution.
Turkish commentators argue Erdogan believes the peace talks could win Kurdish parliamentarians’ support for early elections or amending the constitution, as well as the backing of Kurdish voters whenever the election is held.
