The first phase of the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is the withdrawal of armed elements of the organization from Turkey. When the government was delayed in implementing required legal measures, the Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK), the umbrella organization of the PKK, announced it had suspended the withdrawal. The KCK had demanded the finalizing of the reform package by Sept. 1, but the government did not even think of calling the parliament back from its long summer recess to discuss it. The political milieu is worried: What is next? Is the process frozen, dead?
The most noteworthy reaction came from pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Pervan Buldan. She pointed to the real address to answer these questions: "We must urgently go to Imrali [where the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is imprisoned]."