In first since 2012, pro-Kurdish lawmakers meet Erdogan, 'hopeful' about peace
The meeting comes as Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party is treading a fine line amid ongoing outrage in the public over the Istanbul mayor’s arrest.
ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Thursday with pro-Kurdish lawmakers who play a key role in talks with imprisoned Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan. The meeting, the first of its kind since 2012, carried a hopeful tone for a peaceful end to the country's 40-year-old armed insurgency.
“The meeting took place in an extremely positive, constructive, productive and hopeful atmosphere regarding the future,” the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) said in a statement after the meeting. “At this point, we are honored to share with the entire country that we are more hopeful than we were yesterday.”
What happened: Erdogan met DEM lawmakers Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan at the presidential compound in Ankara.
Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, and Efkan Ala, deputy chairman of Erdogan’s ruling party, also joined the meeting, a separate statement by Erdogan’s communications office read.
