PKK: Stop the peace process - release Öcalan

TT

Updated 14.28 | Published 14.08

 

The PKK has also previously said that a prerequisite for the peace process to succeed is that the imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan is released by Turkey. Archive photo. Photo: Metin Yoksu/AP/TT

A commander within the Kurdish PKK tells AFP that the group will not take any further steps in the peace process. First, Turkey must release the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

- From now on, we will wait for the Turkish state, commander Amed Malazgirt tells AFP.

The PKK has two main demands in the continued process.

- First, the freedom of leader Apo. Without it, the process will not succeed. The second is the constitutional and official recognition of the Kurdish people in Turkey, says Malazgirt, who refers to Öcalan by “Apo”.

The peace process between Turkey and the PKK, which is labeled a terrorist organization, got underway in the spring. The PKK promised to lay down its arms and instead seek peace through democratic means.

In October, the PKK announced that it was withdrawing its combat units from Turkey to northern Iraq.

It was 76-year-old Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999 and the founder of the movement, who announced in February from prison in Turkey that the armed struggle would turn into a peaceful political struggle.

The conflict has been going on for more than 40 years and has claimed tens of thousands of lives.