Pro-Kurdish supporters wait to take part in the Long March for the freedom of political prisoner, Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Geneva, Switzerland, 06 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/SALVATORE DI NOLFI

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday reacted positively to a Turkish cross-party parliamentary delegation’s secretive visit to the jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, which the Ankara government considers a terrorist organisation.

“The visit will accelerate the elimination of terrorism,” Erdogan said.

Monday’s visit by governing and opposition parliamentarians to Ocalan in a remote prison on Imrali Island in Marmara was part of the ongoing peace process to end the PKK’s long armed struggle with the Turkish authorities.

The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, Tulay Hatimoglullari, defined the visit as “a historical milestone.

“It will be seen that the meeting with Ocalan brings benefit, not harm, to the 86 million [citizens of Turkey],” Hatimoglullari said in a speech in parliament on Tuesday.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, MHP, also praised the visit, saying it was of “historical importance … As long as terrorism is eradicated from our lives for good, let the gallows await us if necessary,” he added.

The visit was kept secret until the last moment for security reasons.

The parliamentary commission on peace talks between the PKK and Turkey backed the visit, but the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, the Democratic Party and the New Path Coalition voted against it and did not take part in the visit.

The Democratic Party has announced its decision to quit the commission.

The delegation consisted of Feti Yildiz, deputy president of the MHP, Huseyin Yayman, deputy president of the ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, and Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit, chair of the parliamentary group of the DEM Party.

No details from the visit have yet been made public.