Friday, September 24, 2010

Turkey holds "comprehensive talks" with jailed PKK leader

Turkish reportts said that the Turkish government has been holding "comprehensive official talks" with jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for the first time, which is the most important topic in Ankara.

World Bulletin

Turkish reports said on Thursday that the Turkish government has been holding "comprehensive official talks" with jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for the first time, which is the most important topic in Turkish capital of Ankara.

Newspapers said, "that the most serious and comprehensive negotiations has been made with Abdullah Ocalan on the prison island of Imrali."

It is already known that many people have talked to Ocalan for different reasons so far. Previously, these talks were made by special forces, conducted by different units of the army. But, a civilian team met with Ocalan this time.

"Meeting between govt and Kurdish party"

Aysel Tugluk, who was a former MP from the banned Democratic Society Party (DTP) and the co-chairperson of Democratic Society Congress (DTK), is waiting for a permission to go to the island for Ocalan meeting.

In line with instructions Tugluk will get from Ocalan, DTK's chairperson Ahmet Turk can go to Qandil.

The meeting to take place between the government and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was cancelled due to the mine attack in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

However, executives said it could take place within a few days. Huseyin Celik, the deputy chairman of the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party, said, "I hope the meeting will take place in a few days."

"Negotiation list"

According to the news reports, these talks are not only continuation of the unilateral truce conditions, it is more comprehensive and there are also talks about steps to be taken with respect to aftermath of "a truce."

The issues in talks are not limited to ceasefire.

Reports said, the comprehensive talks focus on steps to be taken after a possible ceasefire and the issue of PKK's withdrawal beyond the borders and what kind of solutions will be found after the quit.

These discussions is based on mutual trust, according to the reports. Ocalan "wants to see whether or not his words and messages will be kept because there are small groups in PKK who are oppose to negotiation," papers said.

Some issues on the table during these talks as follows:

Cessation of operations
Release of KCK (Kurdish Democratic Confederation) detainees
Initiative for a new Constitution
Election threshold

Papers said, the issue of autonomy is one of the subjects that the government certainly did not intend to make concessions and it is not expected to be covered.