ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Friday welcomed as “historic” a vote by the parliamentary commission overseeing the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

A Turkish parliamentary commission tasked with drafting a legal framework for the Ankara-PKK peace process on Friday voted by an absolute majority to visit Ocalan in the secluded Imrali island prison. 

“The upcoming visit to Imrali will be a historic step toward a permanent end to decades of suffering and the establishment of social reconciliation,” DEM Party co-chairs Tulay Hatimogullari and Tuncer Bakirhan said in a statement, stressing that the decision “presents a unique window of opportunity for resolving the Kurdish issue and democratizing Turkey.” 

It further hailed the step as “the most concrete expression of Turkey’s democratic maturity and will for peace.” 

On Friday, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said it will not send a representative to meet with Ocalan on Imrali, protesting the lack of transparency in the peace process commission. 

Ocalan and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) have repeatedly expressed concern over the lack of concrete measures to establish a political framework ensuring the success of the peace process.

The DEM Party has been the main mediator between the PKK and the Turkish state in the recent peace process.

“The commission’s visit to Imrali will usher in a new era for Turkey; the politics of fear will be replaced by hope and trust in coexistence. This meeting will reinforce the transparency and sincerity of the process and strengthen the participation of all segments of society in peacebuilding,” DEM Party said. 

The pro-Kurdish party thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli for their efforts in establishing the commission. 

“We have full confidence that the meetings with Mr. Ocalan will play a decisive role in ensuring the peace progresses in a healthy and safe manner,” it said. 

Bahceli, the leader of 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.

In July, dozens of PKK fighters burned their weapons in a symbolic disarmament ceremony in the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province and earlier this month the group announced it will completely withdraw from Turkish soil.