Turkey HDP co-chair due in Brussels for PKK talks: Party official
Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chair of Turkey’s main Kurdish party, is planning to travel to Brussels, with reports saying that he will meet with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
An official from his political faction, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), told AFP that the trip is due to take place on Wednesday, and that Demirtas has delayed a scheduled program in the capital, Ankara.
The official, whose name was not mentioned in the reports, refrained from releasing details about Demirtas’ trip.
However, according to Turkish media, the politician is due to hold talks with PKK representatives, including Brussels-based Zubeyir Aydar, a leading figure in the militant group.
Aydar is an executive committee member of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) that is regarded part of the PKK.
The trip comes as tensions have escalated between the Turkish army and PKK militants, nullifying a 2013 ceasefire between the two sides. Turkish fighter jets have also been targeting purported ISIL terrorists’ positions in Syria as well as PKK bases in northern Iraq.
Demirtas has recently called for an end to the fighting and said the “weapons must be silenced” by both sides right away to pave the way for a return to talks.
The HDP managed to garner 80 seats in the Turkish parliament in June vote.
On July 24, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the country’s parliament to lift the immunity from prosecution of politicians with suspected links to the PKK.
Last week, Erdogan verbally assaulted Demirtas, telling him to “know his place” and condemning his elder brother, Nurettin, over joining PKK militants in the semi-autonomous northern part of Iraq.
“He would run there (too) if he found the opportunity,” Erdogan said during a visit to China.
Demirtas, in return, denied any wrongdoing and accused the Turkish president of targeting the HDP in revenge for upsetting the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with a strong performance in the June 7 legislative elections.
He also denounced as nothing more than a “show” Turkey’s alleged anti-terror police raids and its so-called anti-ISIL military campaign, accusing Ankara of using purported anti-ISIL airstrikes as a “cover” to bomb PKK positions.
The PKK has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast since 1984 in a conflict which has taken tens of thousands of lives so far.
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