PKK leader might be free next year: Deputy
A prominent lawmaker of the Peopleâs Democracy Partyâs (HDP), Sırrı Süreyya Ãnder, has said that the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workersâ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ãcalan, may be released within a year.
Ãnder, who is one of the regular members of the parliamentary delegations that visit the PKK leader in his cell in Imralı Island prison, said during a speech in Diyarbakır that reaching peace on the Kurdish issue would be âvery difficult without freeing Ãcalan.â
âWe are bringing to you Ãcalanâs greetings for the last time. If the Turkish peopleâs fight for democracy and freedom develops with determination Ãcalan will come to personally greet you from this square,â said Ãnder on June 20 during a âResolution and Freedomâ rally in Diyarbakırâs Ä°stasyon Square.
The Kurdish peace process, launched in January 2013 and boosted with Ãcalanâs declaration of a cease-fire during Nevruz on the same year, has been stalled for over a year, with Kurdish politicians criticizing the governmentâs apparent reluctance to pass comprehensive reforms that could settle the four-decade-long conflict.
âÃcalan does not see [his release] as his own freedom. We have made over 20 visits to him. We never spoke about this once. He says, âEither we are all free, or we are all captive,ââ Ãnder added, stressing that âdefending Ãcalanâs release also meant defending peace.â
The government has repeatedly denied that Ãcalan could be released or sent to house arrest in the wake of the peace process.
The HDP was established as an umbrella party comprising the predominantly Kurdish Peace...
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