Parliament speaker holds talks with DEM Party MPs

ANKARA

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş met with senior lawmakers from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on April 2 as part of their ongoing consultations.

According to a statement from the speaker’s office, the meeting with Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar was held behind closed doors at parliament, with no details disclosed.

Kurtulmuş has been holding regular talks with political parties in recent months to discuss the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, including a previous meeting with DEM Party officials on Feb. 24.

The latest half-hour meeting was attended by DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, along with senior lawmakers Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Sezai Temelli.

Following the talks, Kurtulmuş thanked the DEM Party for its contributions to the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, which has overseen the initiative.

The commission concluded its work on Feb. 18, producing a 60-page report outlining proposed democratization steps and legal reforms. The report passed with 47 votes in favor out of 50 members present, alongside two votes against and one abstention.

Momentum behind the initiative has grown in recent months after imprisoned former PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan called on the terror group to disarm. The group subsequently began the process by publicly destroying an initial batch of weapons in July and later announcing plans to withdraw from Turkish territory in October.

The nationalist İYİ (Good) Party remains the only major political party boycotting the initiative and did not participate in the commission’s work.