ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A delegation from the People’s Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party on Monday met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Erbil to discuss the details of the ongoing peace talks in Turkey.

After the meeting, DEM Party delegation member Keskin Bayindir told reporters that “Nechirvan Barzani gave full and great support for pushing forward the peace process,” calling Barzani’s stance in support of the process “a nationalistic stance full of belief.”

The delegation delivered jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan’s “greetings… and delivered his message for the peace process to Mr. Nechirvan Barzani,” Bayindir added.

The DEM Party delegation consists of the Imrali delegation members Pervin Buldan, Sirri Sureyya Onder, and the party’s key officials.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, however it was postponed a day due to Barzani’s attendance in the Munich Security Conference.

After decades of conflict, head of the far-right Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli proposed releasing Ocalan in exchange for his announcement of the dissolution of the PKK and their laydown of arms.

The PKK is an armed group that has fought for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Bahceli’s initiative led to Buldan and Onder being granted the rare permission to meet with Ocalan at Imrali prison in December amid a shift in Ankara’s stance of prohibiting contact with the PKK founder.

The meeting with Barzani is part of a series of meetings by the delegation in the Kurdistan Region and comes a day after the delegation met with President Masoud Barzani. 

DEM Party says the meetings are to consult Kurdish officials and convey the “opinions, suggestions, and thoughts of the relevant people regarding the process” to Ocalan.

The delegation’s next stop is Sulaimani, where they will meet with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani and Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Qubad Talabani Monday afternoon, before returning to Turkey the day after to relay the results of their meetings to the PKK chief.