Kurdistan Workers' Party

The Turkish government and Kurds are on the verge of starting political negotiations, according to British diplomat Jonathan Powell, who was one of Tony Blair's senior aides who took a crucial role during Northern Ireland's peace talks.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy S?rr? Süreyya Önder and independent deputy Leyla Zana, a leading figure in the Kurdish political movement, will visit Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on ?mral? Island Prison, the party said in a press statement on March 5.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has insistently argued that the latest call by the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) does not outline a precondition and is an explicit declaration of intent for the PKK's disarmament.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala has addressed National Intelligence Organization (M?T) members for the responsibility of leaking recordings in 2011 about secret talks between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish officials that took place in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf has said the U.S. welcomes all steps in support of a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue, after the Turkish government and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) held a joint press conference in Istanbul on Feb. 28 to herald a new level in the peace process.

Turkey has announced that it will search for oil in the outskirts of Mount Kandil in northern Iraq, which is known as the stronghold of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The joint press conference of the Kurdish party delegation and the government over the weekend seems to have created new tension between the left/democrats and Kurds in Turkey.

Recent moves in the peace process between the government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are expected to have significant positive effects on the Turkish economy, as the country is estimated to have lost around 1.2 trillion Turkish Liras ($478 billion) after years of clashes with the PKK.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has called on his followers to lay down arms in a bid to find a democratic solution to the 30-year-old insurgency.

It may be early to say whether the Kurdish process will come to a happy end as to reinforce the unity, peace and democracy in Turkey, but it is true that it has never come so close before In a joint press conference on February 28 with the Kurdish problem focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) the Turkish government said it was ready for a negotiation process with the outlawed Kurdista