Erdogan rejects PKK as interlocutor for peace

ANKARA, Turkey (K24) – On Wednesday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected a new round of negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Speaking in a meeting with mukhtars (heads of villages) from across Turkey in the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Erdogan decried the PKK and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"Neither the separatist terrorist organization nor the party under its guidance will be [considered] as interlocutors during the next [peace] process," said Erdogan, in an implied reference to the Kurdish PKK and its civic and political extensions.

Erdogan fell short of articulating who would take part in possible peace talks between the Kurds and the Turkish state.

"They, the organization and its members of parliament, will be held accountable in front of the judiciary," declared Erdogan in a tone implying more HDP MPs could be arrested.

The first officially acknowledged peace talks between the PKK and the Turkish government started in March 2013 and ended in August 2015.

Kurdish fighters and the Turkish army largely observed a tentative ceasefire during that time, until tensions rose in the aftermath of an alleged Islamic State (IS) bombing. In late July, in the Kurdish town of Suruc along the Turkish-Syria border, an explosion killed 33 young activists.

PKK accused Turkish authorities of collaborating with IS and retaliated by killing two Turkish police officers in the neighbouring border town of Ceylanpinar (Serekani).

Turkey immediately began an aerial bombing campaign against PKK targets in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a move that effectively ended negotiations between the two warring parties.

The Turkish President also recently attacked hundreds of academics who signed a petition last week condemning Turkish army operations in Kurdish cities.

"These [intellectuals] are immoral people in the pitfalls of treason. I am disgusted by them!" Erdogan said.

(Reporting by Nevin Diri, Editing by Ava Homa)