Speculation abounds as to what (and how) Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan will or will not say on March 21, when Kurds in Turkey mark Newroz, their new year’s celebration. A most likely scenario is that Ocalan will reassert that he is in direct negotiations with the Turkish government to gain constitutional guarantees for Kurdish rights and that it is time to end the use of violence as a tactic in the Kurdish movement in Turkey.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), met with Ocalan on March 18. The Justice Ministry allowed this third visit to Imrali, the island off the coast of Bursa where Ocalan has been imprisoned since 1999, to demonstrate the government’s seriousness and dedication to the peace process. BDP deputies Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder joined Demirtas for what was their second visit to Imrali.
