Turkey Holds 5 Hours Of Peace Talks With Kurdish Militant Leaders In Prison

JAKARTA - A delegation of the Turkish Parliament held a peace negotiations with Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned militant leader of Kurdish.

According to a statement by the Turkish National Assembly, the negotiations on Monday, November 24, are part of a peace initiative and a push to end the decades-long conflict.

The meeting ended with positive results aimed at strengthening social cohesion, brotherhood, and advancing the process from a regional perspective, the statement reads, quoted from AFP.

Turkey's Parliamentary meeting with Ocalan is rare. Local media reports said the meeting between Ocalan and three Turkish legislators on the prison island of Imrali, near Istanbul, lasted for five hours.

In its discussion it focused on the militant group's decision earlier this year to disperse and lay down arms.

The meeting also led to the implementation of an agreement aimed at integrating Kurdish troops into the new Syrian army.

As a result of the meeting with Ocalan, it was stated that the Turkish Parliament delegation had recorded a 'detailed declaration'.

Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK. He has been jailed since 1999, and remains an influential figure among Kurdish and is seen as the key in advancing the peace process aimed at ending the uprising.

The PKK itself has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States (US) and the European Union.

PKK has been recorded to have launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish government since 1984.

Initially, the PKK wanted an independent Kurdish country, then to switch to autonomy demands and expansion of rights within Turkey. The conflict has spread to neighboring countries, Iraq and Syria.

Ocalan, jailed since 1999, remains an influential figure among Kurdish and is seen as the key in advancing the peace process aimed at ending the uprising.

Previously, the peace agreement between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish on March 10 did not run smoothly with a large number of stagnations stalled.