A Positive Step Toward Peace: President Barzani Welcomes Erdoğan–Imrali Meeting
President Barzani’s comments came in the aftermath of a closely watched meeting between Erdoğan and a delegation from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Thursday.
By Kamaran Aziz
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – President Masoud Barzani on Friday expressed optimism over renewed signs of a peace process in Türkiye, describing the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Imrali delegation as a “positive and promising step” toward resolving long-standing conflicts.
In a message shared on the social media platform X, Barzani welcomed the development as a sign of progress. “The meeting between the Imrali delegation and President Erdoğan is a positive and promising step toward resolving the issues,” President Barzani stated, adding that it “is a strong indication of progress in the peace process in Türkiye.”
President Barzani’s comments came in the aftermath of a closely watched meeting between Erdoğan and a delegation from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Thursday.
The DEM Party delegation included Deputy Speaker of Parliament Sırrı Süreyya Önder and senior lawmaker Pervin Buldan. According to previous report by Kurdistan24, the focus of the meeting was to explore avenues for restarting reconciliation efforts and laying the groundwork for a new peace process aimed at ending decades of conflict.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Önder emphasized that any peace effort must reflect the will of the people. “We cannot call this meeting 'historic'—which depends on the will of the people,” he said, underscoring the public’s central role in determining the success of future dialogue.
President Erdoğan has recently signaled his administration’s openness to political engagement as a path toward national unity and reconciliation. He reiterated his commitment to building a “terror-free Türkiye,” while keeping the door open to dialogue with democratic actors as part of a broader peace strategy.
Turkish media reports indicate that the DEM Party delegation, following their meeting with Erdoğan, is scheduled to visit the island prison of Imrali for further talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - long designated as a terrorist organisation by the U.S., EU and Türkiye.
Öcalan is expected to renew his call for disarmament in what could be a crucial step toward establishing a viable peace roadmap.
Sources suggest the PKK may convene a dissolution congress later this month—a move that could dramatically reshape the political landscape and open the door for new democratic mechanisms to resolve the Kurdish issue within Türkiye.
President Barzani, who has long advocated for peaceful resolution and political dialogue, played a mediating role during previous iterations of the peace process. His message now signals cautious optimism and lends political weight to what may become a renewed chapter of engagement between Ankara and Kurdish political forces.
The last formal peace talks between Ankara and the PKK collapsed in 2015, ushering in a turbulent period of intensified conflict, mass displacement, and rising mistrust. While it remains to be seen whether these new discussions will yield substantive results, President Barzani’s endorsement—alongside the evolving political signals from both Ankara and Imrali—suggests that the groundwork for renewed negotiations is being quietly but steadily laid.
With the region watching closely, the revival of dialogue, bolstered by high-level political will and regional support, offers a rare moment of hope in what has otherwise been a decade marked by conflict and political stagnation. Whether symbolic or substantive, the Erdoğan-Imrali-DEM triangle may yet shape the contours of a new peace framework for Türkiye’s future.
