ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Tuesday urged the Turkish parliamentary peace process commission to consult with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in relation to the development of Kurdish relations with Ankara in the wake of the PKK's disbandment.

“The commission needs to hear one more thing: it needs to hear from Mr. Ocalan,” co-chair of the DEM Party, Tuncer Bakirhan, said during a weekly parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement from the party.

“Mr. Ocalan strengthens the foundations for a solution as he speaks. We have all witnessed this over the last 40 years. Whenever Ocalan spoke, the issue of solution and peace came to the fore in Turkey, as did dialogue and negotiation. We all witnessed how Mr. Ocalan illuminated the process with the perspective of peace he offered,” Bakirhan added.

He directed the comments at the parliamentary commission tasked with establishing a legal framework for the peace process between Ankara and the PKK.  The body was formed after the PKK’s disarmament, with the group having heeded a February call by Ocalan in which he urged members to end their armed campaign and seek a political path.

The PKK in May announced its decision to dissolve and disband following the call, marking an end to their armed struggle against the Turkish state that spanned four decades and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The commission has since been formed to draft the legal basis for the peace process, with representatives of most parties taking part. Sessions are being held under strict confidentiality, with records of the proceedings to be sealed for 10 years.

Bakirhan stressed that the peace process should be put forward with more effort, stressing the importance of the “century-old issue” being debated.

He further urged the political parties to avoid turning the commission's meeting with Ocalan into “a taboo,” adding that democracies thrive through democratic negotiations.

The parliament's task was termed as a “historical responsibility” by the co-chair, who asserted that the commission’s decisions would affect Turkey’s next hundred years.

He called on parliament, “This year is not just any year; let's make this legislative year the year of solutions in Turkey’s history.”

In late September, the DEM party also urged engaging Ocalan as a “chief negotiator” in the peace process.

Earlier in October, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), urged the Turkish parliament to hold direct talks with Ocalan to call on Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) to lay down arms.

Bahceli was first to launch the peace initiative in October last year by urging Ocalan to address the Turkish parliament.

The PKK was an armed group that, up until its disbandment in May 2025, claimed to fight for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey, predominantly engaging in armed struggle with Turkish forces from the mountainous borders of the Kurdish Region, Iraq, and Syria.