Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Turkey Reveals Secret Talks With Kurdish Militant Leader Ocalan

A demonstrator holds a flag with a portrait of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Strasbourg, Feb. 18, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Vincent Kessler)

Turkey, Ocalan Map Out Steps To End Kurdish Conflict -- Reuters

The Turkish government and the jailed leader of a Kurdish insurgency have agreed on the framework for a plan to end a war that has killed 40,000 people since 1984, envisaging rebel disarmament in exchange for increased minority rights, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The Radikal daily said senior intelligence officials had held meetings with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) chief Abdullah Ocalan in his island jail near Istanbul, yielding a four-stage plan to halt the conflict.

Previous negotiations with the PKK were highly secretive and appeared to have run aground. The open acknowledgment of the latest contact has raised hopes for a renewed peace effort, including from the main pro-Kurdish party in parliament.

Read more ....

More News On Talks Between Turkey And Kurdish militant Leader Ocalan

Turkey's PKK talks
-- Foreign Policy
Government talks with Kurdish leader 'right step': Party -- Ahram Online/AFP
Turkey reaches out to public enemy number one -- Deutsche Welle
Turkey reveals secret PKK talks -- Euronews
Turkey learning that jaw-jaw is better than war-war
-- Haaretz
US backing talks with imprisoned PKK chief
-- Hurriyet News
Optimism high for talks with PKK -- UPI
Turkey makes game-changing move on Kurdish problem -- Murat Yetkin, Al Arabiya
The Transformation of Ocalan -- Cengiz Çandar for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse.

My Comment: While the talks are a positive step .... the war still continues.

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