Hopes of Kurdish peace deal rise as leader orders end of hunger strikes

HUNDREDS of Kurdish militants have ended a hunger strike in jails across Turkey in response to an appeal from their leader, fuelling hopes a deal had been struck that could revive talks to end a decades-old conflict.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his supporters to end their protest after holding a series of discussions with Turkish MIT intelligence agency officials, according to one local media 
report.

Top MIT officials have held secret meetings with senior PKK representatives in Oslo in recent years, and the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, said in September more talks were possible.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in 28 years of fighting between Turkey and the PKK – designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

Ocalan’s call for an end to the hunger strike, which militants staged to demand an end to his isolation in an island prison south of Istanbul, was announced by his brother on Saturday.

“On the basis of our leader’s call … we end our protest as of November 18, 2012,” Deniz Kaya, a spokesman for the jailed PKK militants, was quoted as saying yesterday in a statement by an association representing the inmates’ families.

The announcement was welcomed by the government, which had been increasingly worried any deaths during the hunger strike might provoke more violence.

“I hope we will not face such protests from now on. Turkey is a democratic country,” deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc said. “Whatever demands the people have, the government and politicians can air them in parliament,” he added.

A Turkish newspaper said talks between Ocalan and Turkish intelligence officials over the last two months had paved the way for his appeal to end the protest, which lasted 68 days.

“A delegation went to Imrali on three occasions. A senior MIT official joined one of these visits and Ocalan’s intervention was sought to end the hunger strike,” the liberal daily Radikal said. It did not identify its sources.

Fighting between the PKK and Turkish forces surged over the summer. Ankara has linked the hostilities to the conflict in neighbouring Syria and accused Syrian president Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK.

Ocalan, imprisoned on Imrali island in the Marmara Sea south of Istanbul since his capture in 1999, has significant support among Kurds but is widely reviled by Turks who hold him responsible for the conflict since the PKK took up arms in 1984.

According to justice ministry figures, about 1,700 people had been taking part in the hunger strike. There was no indication their demands had been met.

As well as end to Ocalan’s isolation and limited access to lawyers, they had demanded greater use of the Kurdish language in schools and other institutions.

Mr Erdogan’s government has boosted Kurdish cultural and language rights since taking power a decade ago. But Kurdish politicians are seeking greater political reform, including steps towards autonomy for mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.