Ocalan warns prolonged Turkey-PKK peace talks pose risk

ISTANBUL,— Jailed Kurdish leader and PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan has warned against delaying legal measures needed to advance peace efforts with Ankara in a message released Monday.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party last year formally ended its armed struggle against the Turkish state after four decades of violence.

A delegation of lawmakers from the pro Kurdish DEM party, who visited Ocalan on Imrali prison island Sunday, published his remarks. He said extending the peace process would create risk.

He said it was essential that the process be based on a legal framework and called on all parties to act responsibly.

Remaining in a state of expectation or prolonging it only creates risk, he said, adding there is no time to lose.

Ocalan also commented on clashes at the main opposition CHP headquarters in Ankara on Sunday, where riot police used tear gas after a court removed its leadership.

The clashes between police and supporters of ousted leader Ozgur Ozel were the latest sign of a crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on political opponents.

He asked whether breaking into a party headquarters by smashing a door with a sledgehammer should occur in a democracy.

He said such actions against the CHP show the absence of a functioning democratic system and democratic politics.

A DEM delegation is scheduled to meet Ozel at his offices in the Turkish parliament on Monday, where he is now working, the party said.

The PKK began its armed campaign in 1984 against the Turkish state, which denies constitutional recognition of Kurds, seeking greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority, who make up nearly 30 percent of Turkey’s 85 million people according to 2012 figures.

Turkey says the conflict has killed more than 40,000 soldiers and Kurdish fighters.

(With files from AFP | Agencies)