ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Sunday that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will not send a representative to Imrali Island to meet imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan until the Turkish government takes “democratic steps” to prove its commitment to peace.

On Friday, the CHP said it will not send a representative to meet with jailed Ocalan on Imrali Island, protesting the lack of transparency in the peace process commission.

A Turkish parliamentary commission formed to draft a legal framework for the peace process between Ankara and the PKK has been holding its sessions behind closed doors for over three months. The commission’s 18th session was held on Friday, where they discussed potentially sending a delegation to meet Ocalan at Imrali.

“We do not find it appropriate to contribute to the continuation of the process through forms and methods that do not receive the approval of a large portion of the nation,” detained Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu said in a post on his X account.

Imamoglu stressed that “until democratic steps are taken that demonstrate the process is being taken seriously by the government, and until the nation is made part of the process, the CHP will continue to contribute while maintaining its cautious stance toward the process.”

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.

Imamoglu criticized the Turkish government for detaining opposition officials and undermining democratic checks, saying the “imprisonment of numerous mayors and politicians,” the appointment of trustees, and the president’s “refraining from vigorously defending the process” are among the “greatest obstacles” to progress.

Earlier in November, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office released an indictment against Imamoglu, seeking a prison sentence of up to 2,430 years on charges including establishing a “terrorist organization, bribery, fraud, bid rigging, money laundering, and disseminating personal data.” 

The Turkish government has a long history of ousting elected mayors from opposition parties and replacing them with state-appointed trustees.

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.

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