SECRET MEETINGS WITH ÖCALAN ENVOY & ANKARA IN ERBIL ?

Press reports have indicated that there was a meeting between Turkish government officials and close source to the leader of Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, in Erbil this week under the auspices of the Presidency of Kurdistan Region.

Shafaaq / AFP / KRG – 30.1.2013 – ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq. –  Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) denied on Wednesday, that it has received any request from any party on convening a meeting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK and the Turkish government in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, declaring its readiness to play an intermediary role if the concerned parties demanded to do so.

Kurdistan government spokesman, Safeen Dizayee said in a statement “KRG have not received any request from any party to hold a meeting between the PKK and the Turkish government in Kurdistan Region,” adding that “the Turkish state began holding meetings directly with the leader PKK in Imrali Island “. Dizayee said that it is likely that “this step is a good start to end violence and fighting between the two sides, and start dialogue in order to solve the Kurdish issue in Turkey through peaceful means.” “The President of Kurdistan Region and the Council of Ministers and all the political parties in Kurdistan Region support the peace process and democracy    

  in Turkey,” adding that “if the disputing parties in Turkey demanded to take the mediator role for the development of the peace process and democracy in Turkey, it will participate in it”. The Dizayee expressed that “the provincial government welcomes and all Kurdish political parties to perform this role, but he also said that “there is no signs in the current period to hold a meeting between the PKK and the Turkish government in Kurdistan Region.

Press reports have indicated that there was a meeting between Turkish government officials and close source to the leader of Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, in Erbil this week under the auspices of the Presidency of Kurdistan Region.

Turkish media has speculated that Turkey’s nascent talks with the PKK have produced a roadmap, but this has not been confirmed by any of the parties. Turkey’s Kurdish rebels will declare a ceasefire and withdraw to their bases in northern Iraq in the spring as part of a deal brokered between their jailed leader and the country’s intelligence agency, media reported on Tuesday.