ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan on Tuesday emphasized the need to build a shared understanding to improve relations between the Kurdish population and the Turkish state, asserting that the peace process is moving towards a democratic framework.

A delegation from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) met with the jailed leader on Friday on the secluded Imrali Island, with a report regarding the content of the meeting and Ocalan’s message subsequently released on Tuesday.

“We must develop a collective and civil understanding that establishes the relationship between Kurds and the state in a positive way,” DEM Party quoted Ocalan as saying.

Ocalan, who has been jailed on the secluded island for over 27 years, said that they “have no problem with the republic, the real problem is that the republic is not democratic,” reiterating that the peace process is in a transitional stage towards a “democratic republic.”

“The era of armed struggle has ended. A return to the past is no longer possible. The process we are in is a transition toward peace with the Democratic Republic. If this process [succeeds], the Republic will be twice as strong.”

He stressed that participation in Turkey’s political structures must be based on “identity, freedom of thought and ideas, freedom of organization, and women's freedom.”

Democratic integration represents the “second phase” of the peace process as outlined by the jailed leader, with the first phase having concerned the disarmament of the PKK which he dubbed the “negative dimension” of the process aiming to end the decades-old conflict with the Turkish state.

“The integration phase is the positive phase; it is the phase of construction,” Ocalan said in an earlier message in February.

On February 18, the parliamentary National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Committee, approved a report aiming to accelerate the peace process.

The report sets the groundwork to allow PKK fighters who have abandoned armed struggle to rejoin Turkey’s society, however asserted that the law “should not create a perception of impunity and amnesty.”

It also stressed that free speech and non-violent acts should not be classified as terrorism and called for a fairer justice system for sentencing and releasing prisoners.