ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani on Saturday expressed support for the ongoing peace process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Ankara, reaffirming his readiness to help advance the initiative.

A Turkish parliamentary committee has been established, tasked with drafting a legal framework for the Ankara-PKK peace process. The commission on Monday marked their first visit with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan on Imrali Island, later asserting that “positive outcomes” had been reached.

Barzani said that the process has been proceeding “in a very organized and proper manner,” adding that it has gained the support of the people, political parties, and the government.

Imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s "constructive steps" were hailed by Barzani, who also expressed his appreciation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his government's initiation of the process, describing it as “a door opened for peace.”

"We are happy that the peace process has started, and we support the peace process with all our strength," Barzani said, adding, "Whatever is requested from us and is within our power, we are ready."

"God willing, the [peace] process will reach a good result," Barzani said.

The former Kurdistan Region president delivered his remarks at the fourth International Mullah al-Jaziri Symposium held in the Cizre district of Turkey's Sirnak on Saturday.

The event focuses on the life, works, and ethics of Kurdish poet and philosopher Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaziri.

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 October, he suggested that the Turkish parliament should hold direct talks with Ocalan. 

Ocalan made a historic call from Imrali in February, which was subsequently followed by the PKK announcing its intention to lay down its arms and dissolve in May.

Despite the advancement of the peace process and the halting of the PKK's almost four-decade-long campaign against the Turkish state, many observers have remained skeptical of the next steps, citing legal ambiguities and a lack of clarity.

Bese Hozat, co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group that includes the PKK, on Friday criticized the efforts of the Turkish parliamentary committee tasked with drafting a legal framework for the peace process as “insufficient,” urging Ankara to take concrete steps to resolve the long-standing Kurdish issue.

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.

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.