Öcalan visit to İmralı: New chapter in the peace process?

Öcalan visit to İmralı: New chapter in the peace process?

A top -class announcement is imminent: Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the PKK (Kurdistan workers' party), will make a significant explanation on Thursday. A spokesman for the Democratic Party of the Völker (HDP) announced that Öcalan was first visited in prison on the island of İmralı. This event is intended to mark the start of a possible new peace process, which is long awaited because the last attempts to reconcile in 2015 failed. At 5 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. CET, a press conference will take place in Istanbul, in which the public can expect the first statements of Öcalans. According to Spiegel.de Give decades of conflicts that affect relationships between the PKK and the Turkish state.

The background of the conflict

The PKK is classified by Turkey, the EU and the USA as a terrorist organization and has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s. Her headquarters are located in the Northern Iraqi Kandil mountains. The developments could be crucial, especially after Devlet Bahçeli, the chairman of the ultra -nationalist MHP, brought a conditional release in Öcalans into play, the PKK should put down and dissolve. These growing tensions and the unclear course of further disputes have caused a stir in both the political and in the civil society debate in Turkey and beyond, such as Kleine Zeitung reported.

The public and political observers are eagerly awaiting Öcalans and the content he will tell on Thursday. The pressure for sustainable peace is growing, and the hope of an end to the violence between the Kurdish separatists and the Turkish government seems tangible, but the upcoming statements will be decisive for the direction in which the conversations will move.