The Albany Gazette - Jailed PKK leader says 'ready' to support Turkey peace drive

Two lawmakers from the DEM party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK.

On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government approved DEM's request to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.

The government's approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkey's nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan a shock olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, a move backed by Erdogan.

"I have the competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm started by Mr Bahceli and Mr Erdogan," Ocalan said, according to a DEM statement Sunday.

Ocalan said the visiting delegation would share his approach with both the state and political circles.

"In light of this, I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the call."

-'Historical responsibility'-

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

A peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed in 2015, unleashing violence especially in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

The new initiative launched in October by Bahceli, who has been fiercely hostile to the PKK, sparked a public debate, with Erdogan hailing it as a "historic window of opportunity".

But a deadly terror attack in October on a Turkish defence company in the capital Ankara, for which PKK militants claimed responsibility, put those hopes on hold.

Turkey launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after the attack, which killed five people.

"Re-strengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also... an urgency for all peoples," Ocalan said, according to the DEM statement.

He said all the efforts would "take the country to the level it deserves" and become a "very valuable guide for a democratic transformation".

"It's time for Turkey and the region for peace, democracy and brotherhood".

The new outreach by both sides comes as Islamist rebels consolidate their control in neighbouring Syria after toppling its strongman president Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey hopes Syria's new leaders will address the issue of Kurdish forces in the country, which Ankara sees as a terror group affiliated to the PKK.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday that Kurdish fighters "cannot be allowed to take shelter in Syria", according to the ministry spokesman.

According to the DEM statement, Ocalan said developments in Syria had shown that outside interference would only complicate the problem, and a solution could no longer be postponed.

(J.Torres--TAG)