site.btaErdogan Willing to Meet Representatives of Pro-Kuridsh DEM Party

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready to meet with representatives of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) who are in contact with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States, has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish State since 1984.

The Turkish head of State spoke on Wednesday to the parliamentary group of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), after which he made a statement to the media.

Asked by reporters whether the President "will meet with the DEM Party delegation visiting Imrali Island [where Ocalan is serving a life sentence as a prisoner]," he responded positively, according to CNN Turk television.

Late last month, Ocalan called on PKK to lay down arms.

A DEM delegation that visits Ocalan in prison on Imrali Island read the PKK leader's "historic call for peace" on February 27.

According to Sozcu newspaper, DEM deputies will meet with deputies from other parties on 17 March, but Erdogan will not attend the meeting.

In October, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader and an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Devlet Bahceli, recently proposed allowing Ocalan to address the legislature and publicly call on PKK militants to disarm.