Disarmament discussed

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party said a delegation met President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday to discuss the disarmament process of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants and had conveyed its recommendations on the next potential steps.

The meeting came amid Turkish media reports the PKK — locked in a bloody conflict with Turkey for more than four decades — would start handing over its weapons in Iraq this week.

In a statement after the meeting, DEM said "the mutual will to move the process along" was also emphasised during the meeting with Erdogan.

Earlier, DEM — the third-biggest party in Turkey’s parliament and which played a key role facilitating the PKK’s disarmament decision — said it met jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in prison on Monday.

Ocalan "attached great importance" to the DEM meeting with Erdogan, describing it as "historic", the party said.