ANKARA: Turkish lawmakers overseeing the disarmament of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group decided on Friday to pay their first visit to its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, a parliamentary statement said.
The move, whose timing is not yet known, comes after a surprise call for such a visit from President Tayyip Erdogan’s ultra-nationalist ally Devlet Bahceli. For his part, Erdogan has indicated he may be open to having Ocalan address lawmakers.
In a major breakthrough last May, the PKK — designated a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Turkiye — announced it would disarm and disband after a call to end its armed struggle from Ocalan.
In July, the PKK symbolically burned weapons and last month announced it was withdrawing fighters from Turkiye as part of the disarmament process. It called on Ankara to take steps to let its members participate in “democratic politics.”
In a statement after a session on Friday, parliament said the lawmakers’ commission overseeing the disarmament process had voted with a three-fifths majority to carry out the visit to Ocalan in his island prison.
