Turkish PM signals possible talks with PKK

Turkish PM signals possible talks with PKK

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan signaled that new talks between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) might be possible as his government faces an upsurge in violence in the country's southeast.

Turkish intelligence officials say they have maintained contact with senior figures from the PKK in recent years to try to end a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives, but discussions have broken down.

"Regarding İmrali, there could be more talks," Erdoğan said in a televised interview with broadcaster Kanal 7 late on Wednesday, Sept 26, referring to the island south of Istanbul where PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned.

"There is a military dimension to this, a security dimension which is separate and will continue. But beside this there is a diplomatic, socio-economic and psychological dimension," he said. Erdoğan spoke after the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) called for the resumption of talks between the state and the PKK to prevent a further escalation of violence.

Clashes in recent months between Turkey's armed forces and militants from the PKK - considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and European Union - have been among the heaviest since the group took up arms 28 years ago.

Ankara has also linked the surge in violence to the unrest in neighboring Syria. Erdoğan has accused President Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK militants and raised the possibility of military intervention in Syria if the PKK were to launch attacks from Syrian soil.

The head of Turkey's armed forces said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday the military also had the capability to launch a sustained operation against the PKK in northern Iraq.

Erdoğan gave the interview days before his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) congress where he is expected to set out the party's future as it goes through its biggest overhaul since coming to power a decade ago.

Since elections in June 2011, the conflict with the PKK has killed more than 700 people, according to the International Crisis Group, the highest toll in a 15-month period since Öcalan was captured and jailed in 1999.

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