ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party said on Wednesday that jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan “warned against sabotage attempts” to the Ankara-PKK peace process in a four-hour meeting the day prior, urging society in Turkey to approach the process correctly. 

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), including chief negotiators Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, as well as Ocalan’s lawyer, visited Ocalan in Turkey’s secluded Imrali island prison on Tuesday to discuss advancements to the Ankara-PKK peace process. 

“Ocalan reminded of the sabotage attempts developed against past solution initiatives regarding the recently intensified anti-process rhetoric and statements,” the DEM Party said in a statement. “He drew attention to the ‘coup mechanics’ as a situation and habit encountered in all these processes.” 

Ocalan, however, praised an ongoing “political and social will” across Turkey to overcome the coup tradition,” saying the movement is gaining traction as the peace process develops. 

A Turkish parliamentary commission tasked with drafting a legal framework for the peace process in late November marked their first visit to Ocalan on Imrali island, later asserting that “positive outcomes” had been reached. 

“In the transition process we are in, the phenomenon of political violence and non-democratic intervention will be removed from Turkey’s agenda with the realization of an original and holistic law-based peace act,” Ocalan said. 

He reiterated the need for fair participation of Kurds in the Turkish state “through law and building a democratic republic with the broadest social unity.” 

Ocalan and the 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. 

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

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 would completely withdraw from Turkish soil.