İmralı delegation meets Bafel Talabani, delivers message from PKK leader

Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader, Bafel Jalal Talabani, met with the İmralı delegation led by Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder in Dabashan, Al-Sulaymaniyah, to discuss the peace process in Turkiye.

According to a statement by the PUK leader, the delegation conveyed a message from Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan to Talabani. The details of the message were not disclosed; however, Öcalan had previously declared his support for the resumption of peace talks with the Turkish state.

The discussions covered political stances, regional developments, and Turkiye’s peace process, as well as the delegation’s talks with Öcalan.

The statement added that Leader Talabani expressed support for initiatives protecting the Kurds in Turkiye, affirming that without resolving the Kurdish issue, “the area will not see peace and stability around itself.”

The İmralı delegation, consisting of politicians who have previously visited Abdullah Öcalan— the PKK leader, imprisoned in Turkiye since 1999—arrived in Erbil on February 15 before continuing to Al-Sulaymaniyah for further discussions.

Öcalan is expected to issue a “historic call” in the coming weeks, which could pave the way for resolving the long-standing conflict between the PKK and Ankara. Kurdish political leaders anticipate the announcement before Newroz on March 21.

Efforts to reconcile the Kurds and Ankara had been stalled for nearly a decade until Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, launched an initiative last October to revive the peace process.

The PKK has waged an armed insurgency against Turkiye since 1984, seeking an independent Kurdish state. The conflict reached its peak in the mid-1990s, claiming over 40,000 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands, while thousands of Kurdish villages in southeastern Turkiye were destroyed. The group later abandoned its demand for full independence, instead advocating for Kurdish autonomy within Turkiye. A major setback came in 1999 with Öcalan's arrest and life imprisonment for treason, though this did not stop the group's activities.

In 2013, The PKK leader called for a ceasefire and urged PKK forces to withdraw from Turkish territory in what was hailed as a historic declaration. However, the truce collapsed in 2015 when Turkiye launched airstrikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq.

Turkiye, like many Western nations, designates the PKK as a terrorist organization and has refused to negotiate with it, though it has offered limited amnesty to some members.