PKK says it no longer trusts İmralı delegation

A senior leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has said Kurdish politicans can not represent them during their meetings with the organization’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan A senior leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has said that neither the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) nor the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) can represent them during their meetings with the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as part of the peace process to solve the Kurdish question.

Duran Kalkan, an executive committee member of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban wing of the PKK, told an interview with the satellite channel Sterk TV that they would not believe anything told them by anyone, including the HDP and the BDP. The apparent rift comes as the peace process reaches a crossroads following months of inaction in the process.

“Some people meet him [Öcalan], but they meet him for themselves. They are not our representatives. The HDP and the BDP are not same as the PKK. The delegation [that meets Öcalan] makes a statement, but then the government makes a [conflicting] statement. This causes trust problems. This is why no one can convince the guerilla from now on. We can only be persuaded if a direct meeting with Öcalan can be arranged,” said Kalkan.

 His remarks came after a HDP delegation’s surprise visit to Ä°mralı Island near Istanbul to meet Öcalan, amid the rise in tension in the southeastern part of the country, which resulted in the death of two locals during clashes with security forces over the weekend.

Öcalan sent his condolences to the families of Ramazan Baran and Baki Akdemir, who were killed by gunshots during...