DEM Party: Önder to remain on İmralı delegation

ANKARA

The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said on April 20 that its lawmaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder will remain part of the delegation in contact with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan despite his recent hospitalization for a severe heart condition.

“The information that a new name will replace Sırrı Süreyya Önder in the İmralı delegation is not true. Our party has not discussed this issue on its agenda. Our first priority is the recovery of our friend," the party said in a written statement.

Önder was hospitalized late on April 15 after suffering cardiac arrest. Doctors discovered a tear in his aorta and performed a 12-hour operation involving bypass and aortic grafting.

The 62-year-old deputy parliament speaker is part of the DEM Party team engaged in renewed dialogue with Öcalan since last December on the İmralı prison island off Istanbul.

In a televised announcement on Feb. 27, Önder and other party officials relayed a message from Öcalan calling on PKK to disarm and dissolve.

The party’s April 20 statement also addressed the postponement of a scheduled meeting with Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç.

The meeting was expected to include MPs Pervin Buldan, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Sezai Temelli. With Buldan busy at the hospital, the party said Tunç would meet with Koçyiğit and Temelli.

The talks are seen as a follow-up to a landmark meeting between Önder, Buldan and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presidential complex on April 10.

It marked the first direct contact between Erdoğan and pro-Kurdish party representatives in nearly 12 years. Türkiye's intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy leader Efkan Ala also attended that meeting.