KCK Demands Line of Communication with Öcalan

Murat Karayilan, General Secretary of KCK's Executive Council, demanded the Turkish government to provide them a line of communication with Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK leader.

"Öcalan already represents our voice and we believe that it is enough [for Turkish government] to negotiate with Öcalan alone. The Turkish government has not come up with a request to negotiate with KCK anyway," Karayilan told Firat News Agency.

According to an article in Taraf newspaper, Ankara government is set to allow Öcalan to communicate with the militant elements of PKK and KCK concerning ceasefire, withdrawal and de-militarization issues. The article claimed that such communication could be made via teleconference.

Reminding their latest council meeting, Karayilan expressed KCK's willingness to continue the negotiation process in a peaceful way which was also endorsed by Öcalan.

"We would like to move forward but AKP government does not come up with a new strategy. It is almost like everything is up to what Öcalan is likely to concede in the negotiations," Karayilan told Firat News Agency.

"They [Turkish government] has unilateral expectations about the process. They are waiting for us to leave Turkey and arms. But why did we start in the first place? We have a cause for being in the mountains."

Karayilan also underscored that any option excluding the emancipation of Öcalan was doomed to failure. "How will people be free without their leader? Who are they fooling? They should accept the fact that he should be free and Kurds are an entity on their own," he said. (EKN/BM)