Kurdish politicians meet Ocalan

KT News:

Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, held a rare meeting on his island prison yesterday with two leading Kurdish politicians and a lawyer, according to Reuters.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Ayla Akat Ata and prominent Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk went with a lawyer to Imrali, where Ocalan has been held in virtual isolation since his capture in 1999. The meeting follows the announcement, by Turkish prime minister Erdogan’s chief adviser, Yalcin Akdogan, that the state is holding talks with Ocalan and regards him as its main interlocutor following his key role in bringing the mass hunger strikes by Kurdish political prisoners to an end in November.

The Reuters report suggested that Erdogan is keen to find some kind of resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey before he probably runs for the presidency in 2014.

However, the repression continues. Yesterday 40 Kurds were sentenced to up to 17 years in jail for being members of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). The judge, at the 6th Diyarbakir High Criminal Court, refused to hear their evidence in Kurdish on the grounds that new legislation giving defendants this right has not yet been implemented.

Copyright © 2012 Kurdistantribune.com

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