Turkey’s Erdogan Backs Outreach To Kurds

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ADDS DEM party says spoke with justice ministry about Ocalan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday extended full support for his nationalist ally’s appeal to Turkey’s Kurds, saying it opened a “window of opportunity”.

Last week, Devlet Bahceli, who heads Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party, extended a shock olive branch to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his outlawed group.

The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey and is considered a terror organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

Turkey routinely bombards Kurdish targets in northern Syria and Iraq.

Bahceli said Ocalan — the PKK’s founder who has been serving life without parole in solitary confinement since 1999 — should be given the “right to hope”.

His remarks were widely understood to mean a possible early release.

A day after his unprecedented remarks, Turkey was shaken by an attack on a top defence firm near Ankara that killed five and injured 22.

The PKK claimed responsibility.

Despite the attack, Bahceli — who is close to Erdogan and has always been fiercely hostile to the PKK — spoke about brotherhood, saying: “Turks and Kurds must love each other, this is both a religious and a political obligation for both sides.”

Addressing lawmakers from his ruling AKP on Wednesday, Erdogan gave full backing to Bahceli, saying the Turkish people see “the window of historic opportunity that has opened before us, and are excited”.

“My dear Kurdish brothers, we expect you to firmly grasp (Bahceli’s) sincerely outstretched hand,” Erdogan said, urging them to join in efforts to build what he called the “century of Turkey”.

“If God gives us the opportunity, we intend to… remove (the conflict with the Kurds) entirely from the national agenda,” he remarked, saying it would be the “crowning achievement” of his political career.

But Erdogan said his appeal was not directed towards the “terror barons” in Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of last week’s attack, Turkish warplanes bombed PKK targets in northern Iraq and Syria.

A day after Bahceli’s initial remarks, Ocalan — who is being held on a Turkish prison island — was permitted his first family visit since March 2020.

Amid signs of a softening, the main pro-Kurdish DEM party on Wednesday said it had held talks with the justice ministry about easing Ocalan’s prison conditions.

“There was a meeting with the justice ministry about lifting the isolation,” party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan told reporters after a faction meeting in parliament.

“Lifting the isolation would benefit all of us because Ocalan is expressing ideas.. (that) will contribute to the groundwork for peace and democracy,” he said.

There was no comment from the justice ministry.

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