Hope still exists for Turkey-PKK detente, despite deadly attack
Al Jazeera
A push for a rapprochement, spearheaded by an unlikely source, could end a decades-long conflict.
Istanbul, Turkey – The sight of Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) walking across the floor of the Turkish parliament on October 1 and shaking hands with politicians from a pro-Kurdish party, DEM, was an unlikely one.
The MHP leader, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been a vociferous opponent of Kurdish demands for more rights. He has referred to Kurdish politicians as “terrorists,” accusing them of links to the PKK, an armed group that is listed as a “terrorist organisation” by Turkey and the West. He also called for DEM’s predecessor to be banned.
The promise of new peace negotiations between Turkey and the Kurdish fighters who have waged a 40-year rebellion was called into question last month after an attack on an aerospace plant near the capital Ankara.
Bahceli later said his gesture was a “message of national unity and fraternity”.
Weeks later, he raised the possibility that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence since 1999, could be granted parole if he renounced violence and disbanded his organisation.
