Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has called on all parties involved in Turkey’s peace efforts to act with “sensitivity and responsibility” to ensure its success, according to a message released on Tuesday by a delegation from the country’s main pro-Kurdish party that visited him in prison.

Öcalan, the founder of the PKK, is leading a transition from a four-decade armed insurgency against the Turkish state toward what he calls a democratic political struggle for Kurdish rights.

Since August, a cross-party parliamentary committee has been drafting a legal framework for the peace efforts, including provisions on Öcalan’s imprisonment and possible security guarantees for former PKK fighters.

“To progress to a positive phase, it is essential for everyone to act with sensitivity, seriousness and a sense of responsibility,” Öcalan wrote. “The basis for this must be to integrate the Kurdish recognition in all its dimensions into the country’s legal framework and engage in a solid transition process.”

The PKK formally renounced its armed campaign in May after more than 40 years of conflict that claimed more than 40,000 lives. Last month the group said it had withdrawn its remaining fighters from Turkey to northern Iraq, completing the first phase of the peace plan launched a year earlier.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which has the third-largest bloc in parliament, has urged the start of the second phase — focused on political and legal reforms to recognize Kurdish rights.

Kurds make up roughly 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 86 million. Analysts say progress on the peace efforts will depend on both government willingness to pass reform legislation and sustained engagement from Kurdish political actors.

© Agence France-Presse