Pro-Kurdish party criticises Turkey's 'hesitant' steps toward PKK peace

ANKARA, April 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party issued one of its strongest criticisms yet of the government's handling of a fragile peace process, highlighting on Tuesday a growing stand-offbetween Ankara and Kurdish militants over next steps to end a decades-long conflict.

DEM is parliament's third biggest party and helped facilitate steps toward peace between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose conflict has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984.

Speaking to her party MPs, DEM co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari said the government was "failing to match the momentum" created by a February 2025 call by jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan to lay down arms.

"While such a bright outlook lies ahead of us, and we should be moving at full speed toward the goal of peace, the government is acting in a hesitant, timid and stalling manner," she said.

All sides involved in the process, including DEM, the PKK and President Tayyip Erdogan's government, have traded blame for perceived delays morethan a year since hopes were raised for a breakthrough.

The PKK - designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and EU - halted attacks and said in May 2025 it had decided to disband and end its armed struggle. But Ankara has said itmust do more and that disarmament must be verified before broader legal or political steps.

A Turkish parliamentary commission voted overwhelmingly in February to approve a report setting out a roadmap for legal reforms alongside the PKK’s disbandment, shifting the process into the legislative arena.

The insurgency has fuelledinstability in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast and spilled over into Iraq and Syria. Hatimogullari warned that delays risked derailing the broader peace process.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )