International Peace Initiative Welcomes News of Negotiations between the Turkish State and Abdullah Öcalan

IPI PRESS RELEASE – Issued: 9th January 2013 – For Immediate Release 

The International Peace Initiative welcomes the positives steps that have been recently taken by the Turkish State to resume talks with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, in the wake of a joint call in December, led by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and supported by other leading international figures, for a Resumption of Dialogue between Turkey and Öcalan, for a lasting and peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue in Turkey.

During a meeting on the 3rd January at the Fifth Annual Ambassadors Conference held in Ankara, the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization MÏT Hakan Fidan is quoted as saying that “İmralı is one of the actors in this process. What needs to be done is being done.”

Leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has announced that his party ‘cautiously’ backed talks between Turkey’s Intelligence agency and Abdullah Öcalan.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin also stated on the same day that the government had authorized the visit of 2 of Kurdish MPs to İmralı Island, where Öcalan is held, for the first time since his imprisonment in 1999. Ergin said that the visit by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) member Ayal Akat Ata and independent deputy and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Ahmet Turk was considered by the Turkish Government to be “a helpful step for the country” and that visits may continue as long as the process is not ‘abused’.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who supports the International Peace Initiative, stated today that these steps by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan towards a non-violent resolution are “realistic, pragmatic and praiseworthy.” In reference to the end of South African apartheid he said.

 “A political solution, through dialogue and negotiation, was the only way to find lasting peace in our country. I hope and pray that through dialogue and negotiations all obstacles will be removed so that all the people of Turkey can live in peace and harmony.” 

The International Peace Initiative strongly supports these encouraging signs of dialogue by both parties, and will continue to work for the peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey by placing the issue on the international agenda and assisting the parties to gain trust and respect.

IPI, Anna Irvin, Paris