Eyes on Diyarbak?r for PKK leader Öcalan's key Kurdish bid message

All eyes will be on Diyarbak?r on March 21, where a letter from the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, will be read during Nevruz festivities, marking the arrival of spring.

In the letter, seen as a crucial step in the ongoing Kurdish peace process to find a solution to the decades-old problem that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Öcalan is expected to express the conditions for the PKK to call a congress and end the armed struggle against Turkey, instead of a direct call to lay down arms.

The two-page letter will be read in Turkish by Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker S?rr? Süreyya Önder and in Kurdish by HDP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pervin Buldan, who are both members of the delegation meeting Öcalan and government officials.

In his messages, Öcalan will emphasize ?the importance of continuing the reinforced ceasefire between the security forces and the PKK,? call for an end to the violent street protests in Turkey?s southeast, and tell the PKK to ?strengthen its ties with the parts of Kurdistan outside Turkish soil.?

It will be the third public letter from Öcalan since the official launch of the Kurdish peace process in early 2013. In his first letter read during the Nevruz celebrations in 2013, the jailed PKK leader had declared that ?the period of armed struggle is ending, and the door is opening to democratic politics,? adding that the PKK had ?now arrived at the stage of withdrawing our armed forces outside the borders.?

There has not been a major armed clash between Turkey?s security forces and PKK militants since the 2013 declaration. However, the government has harshly criticized the PKK for not fully retreating its militants while the PKK argues...