PKK leader will not leave jail, party co-chair says

The jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan would not leave prison even if he was released, Selahattin Demirta?, the co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has quoted him as saying.

"In our talks at ?mral? [the island prison where Öcalan is kept], he told me that he would not leave prison even if the door was opened," Demirta? said in an interview published in daily Posta on Jan. 8. "He said it was not meaningful for him to leave ?mral? because the reasons for his imprisonment were not removed."

In further remarks on Jan. 8, Demirta? said Öcalan was "offended" by rumors that the government will grant an amnesty to him.

"I was put in here for political reasons and I am a person with a political cause. I am offended by rumors such as 'Freedom for Öcalan' or 'Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] will get an amnesty before steps are taken about [the cause]," Öcalan said, as quoted by Demirta?.

Commenting on a question about Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç's recent claims that the HDP would not be able to pass the 10 percent threshold at the general elections in June, Demirta? said his party would "disappoint Ar?nç."

The threshold was a "shame on the ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP]," as it has not abolished it throughout its 12 years in power, he added.

The statement came at a time when the talks between the PKK and Turkish officials to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue have regained momentum.

Öcalan is being kept in prison unfairly, as the reasons were political, not judicial, Demirta? claimed.

"A separate and special judiciary is being implemented on ?mral?," he said, complaining that Öcalan has not met with his lawyers for three and a...