Ankara: Jailed PKK chief favors unitary Syria, no separate Kurdish defense force
The militant leader called for “police-like” security units in Syrian Democratic Forces areas during his landmark meeting with a Turkish parliamentary delegation, according to a transcript summary.
ANKARA — Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said he supports Syria’s unitary structure but added that Kurdish-administered areas should exercise local democratic authority with their own civilian policing rather than form a separate armed defense force.
He made the remarks during an unprecedented meeting last week with Turkish lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party, its ally the Nationalist Movement Party and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party at the prison where he is held, according to a transcript summary released Thursday by the Turkish parliament.
Meanwhile, the DEM Party, along with the main opposition Republican People’s Party, opposed releasing only a summary of the transcript. They called instead for the full transcript, arguing that the complete text is necessary to provide proper context and a full understanding of Ocalan’s statements.
The DEM Party said in a statement following the release of the official summary that the text failed to provide a sound and comprehensive understanding of Ocalan’s positions. “Sentences taken out of context, selective emphases and incomplete quotations also open the door to numerous speculations," it said.
