DEM Party starts fresh round of political talks

ANKARA

Lawmakers from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) held talks with Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş on June 26, as part of a new round of political consultations under the government's "terror-free Türkiye" initiative.

The half-hour meeting was attended by MPs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar. The exchange was "very positive," Buldan told reporters. "Further visits will follow."

She said they plan to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel within the next two weeks.

The talks come amid a renewed peace initiative with PKK. The process has led to the terror group’s decision to disband, following visits by DEM Party members to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on the İmralı prison island off Istanbul.

Buldan said the party expects to return to İmralı at the end of its latest round of political discussions.

For his part, Sancar said parliamentary involvement would lend the process "social legitimacy, legal security and solid progress."