While conservative and left-wing Turks are up in arms with the revelations of Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan’s proposals to end the terrorist upheaval in eastern and southeastern Turkey. his own people among the militant leadership and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) are also extremely uneasy that their own demands have been downgraded and that a final solution may well amount to a submission to the Turks.
On Feb. 23, three parliamentarians from the BDP — Pelvin Buldan, the chief whip of the party, as well as Sirri Sureyya Onder and Altan Tan — visited Ocalan at the prison island of Imrali where the PKK leader is serving a life sentence for treason and membership in a terrorist organization. Two Turkish officials from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) accompanied the deputies to the island, and at least one was present at the meeting between the PKK leader and the deputies.