Impossible to know when PKK will disarm, senior Kurdish politician says

Meeting with Turkey's Justice Minister planned as moves towards dissolution of Kurdish insurgent group continue

Dem Party politicians read a message from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in February, in which he called on the Kurdish group he founded to disarm and dissolve

It is impossible to know when the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will make good on promises to lay down its weapons, a senior Kurdish politician co-ordinating with the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in Turkey said on Tuesday.

“It is time for practical steps to be taken. Mr Ocalan had already called for laying down arms. His interlocutors had said that weapons would be laid down when the requirements were fulfilled. It is impossible for us to know the date,” Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (Dem) Party, told politicians in parliament.

He did not outline what the “requirements” were, although Kurdish politicians have been calling for an end to curbs on their political activity in Turkey, and Mr Bakirhan called for Ocalan’s prison conditions to be improved.

Ocalan, whose group is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and the US, in February called on PKK members to lay down their arms and for the group to dissolve itself. The process of actually doing so, and the fate of the group’s fighters, who have waged a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state, is far more complex, and will probably have ramifications across the Middle East.

Ocalan’s call came after a months-long process initiated by an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ultranationalist politician Devlet Bahceli, for greater freedoms for Ocalan in exchange for the PKK’s dissolution.

Officials from the Dem Party will meet Turkey’s Justice Minister in the coming days to attempt to outline a legal framework for what could be a major shift in the country’s long-standing conflict with the PKK. Ocalan was captured in 1999 and is serving a life sentence in an island prison in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul.

“In this critical period we are going through, two major steps must be taken: The first is to establish a solid legal basis and the second is to put forward a strong political will to realise this basis,” Mr Bakirhan said. “That is why we will meet with the Minister of Justice in the coming days.

"We will continue our contacts not only with the Minister of Justice but also with all political parties represented in the Parliament. As the Dem Party, we are ready for any responsibility for peace and a democratic solution.” There was no immediate comment from Turkey’s Justice Ministry.

The Dem party wants fairer sentencing and the release of political prisoners and prisoners who are sick as part of legal steps to continue momentum in the dialogue between Kurdish politicians and the Turkish government, Mr Bakirhan suggested. The Turkish government has not laid out any such steps.

“Weapons must be laid down, but there must also be a disarmament of the minds,” Mr Bakirhan said. “We call for the establishment of a republic where everyone feels they belong. We are ready to fulfil the requirements of this. We are for peace, we are ready to take this country to a democratic ground.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Sirri Sureyya Onder, left, and Pervin Buldan, centre, of the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy Party, in Ankara this month. Turkish Presidential Press Service/AFP

Kurdish politicians have framed the dialogue with the Turkish government and the PKK's dissolution as an opportunity for greater democratic freedoms for the country’s Kurdish citizens, who make up just under a fifth of the country’s population of 85 million. The Turkish government has framed the process as offering a “terror-free Turkey” and ridding the country of the attacks carried out by the PKK and affiliates over the past four decades.

“We have managed the process with great patience, determination and sensitivity until today,” Mr Erdogan said last week in his latest remarks on the process. “We will maintain the same will until we get results.”

The Turkish President met with a Dem delegation earlier this month for the first time in years, indicating the potential for dialogue in future relations between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and politicians from pro-Kurdish parties, who have often been accused of collaborating with the PKK.

A delegation of Kurdish politicians has visited Ocalan a number of times in recent months, most recently on Monday. He passed on wishes for a quick recovery to Dem politician Sirri Sureyya Onder, who has been vital in enabling he and the Turkish government to liaise. Mr Onder suffered a heart attack last week and is in intensive care.