PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan is working on a “democratic solution” for the Kurds, a delegation of pro-Kurdish Turkish parliamentarians said in Erbil.

Despite the difficult circumstances, Mr. Öcalan is advocating for a democratic solution through legal means, according to Keskin Baydir, co-chairman of the DBP, a small pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, speaking from the capital of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.

The delegation met with Nesirvan Barzani, President of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, as part of mediation efforts between Ankara and the PKK to end the 40-year conflict that has claimed at least 40,000 lives.

Ankara, which considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, has opened a dialogue with its 26-year-old incumbent leader, Öcalan, through MPs from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish parties: DEM, the third-largest force in the Turkish parliament, and DBP, which holds two seats.

A stateless people, the Kurds are divided between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The Turkish delegation met yesterday with Iraq’s historic Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani.

Tomorrow, he will visit Sulaymaniyah, the second-largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan, to meet with Bafel Talabani, President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the other historical faction of Iraqi Kurds.

With information from: AFP, AMNA

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