ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), on Monday called for a “strong transition process” to incorporate “the Kurdish reality” into Turkey’s state institutions, during a meeting with a pro-Kurdish delegation. 

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) visited Ocalan in the secluded Imrali prison island on Monday to discuss the latest developments in the peace talks between Ankara and the PKK. 

The delegation said Ocalan was in “good health and spirits” during the three-hour meeting, stressing the importance that “the Turkish-Kurdish relationship has survived to this day as 2,000-year-old pillars. Unity must be strengthened by recognizing, understanding, and repairing these pillars,” the DEM Party said in a statement.  

“The Kurdish reality, in all its dimensions, must be incorporated into the legality of the [Turkish] Republic, and a strong transition process must be established as the basis for this,” Ocalan was cited as saying during the meeting. 

“This transition to legality as a holistic phenomenon will strengthen the legal foundations of the democratic republic,” he added, noting that serious efforts are being made to advance the peace talks despite “limited circumstances.” 

On Thursday, the DEM Party said that a “mutual understanding” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the next steps of the peace process was reached during a meeting. 

The DEM party is the main mediator of Ankara-PKK peace talks. 

On October 26, the PKK issued a historic statement, declaring the withdrawal of “all guerrilla forces in Turkey” to the Medya Defense Areas in the Kurdistan Region, where the group’s headquarters in the Qandil Mountains is located. 

A day after the Kurdish group announced the withdrawal of its forces from Turkey, DEM Party said the first phase of the peace process between Ankara and the PKK had been completed.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), initiated the renewed peace process in October last year by urging Ocalan to address the Turkish parliament and call on his group to disarm.

Ocalan and the DEM Party have repeatedly expressed concern about the lack of concrete measures to establish a political framework that ensures the success of the peace process. 

In October, a senior PKK commander urged Turkey to release Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on Imrali Island since 1999.