When is the DEM Party İmralı meeting? How many people will go to İmralı? Will Öcalan's video message be released?

The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), following its application to the Ministry of Justice, is preparing to meet with terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan for the third time with its İmralı delegation. This meeting will be held on February 27, 2025. The first İmralı meeting was held on December 28, 2024, following calls from MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli. In his call prior to the meetings, Bahçeli had requested that the terrorist leader Öcalan instruct his organization to lay down arms and stated that the terrorist leader's isolation should be lifted so he could speak in Parliament. Following the two meetings held between the DEM Party İmralı Delegation and the terrorist leader Öcalan, the call for laying down arms that Bahçeli expected did not come.

DEM Party, on the other hand, requested that a video message be released by PKK leader Öcalan after the third meeting takes place. So, when is the DEM Party İmralı meeting? How many people will go to İmralı? Will Öcalan's video message be released? Here are all the details regarding the meetings...

WHEN IS THE DEM PARTY İMRALI MEETING?

The third meeting with terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan will be held on the island of İmralı on Thursday, February 27, 2025 (today). This meeting will take place as part of the İmralı meeting process that first began on December 28, 2024. The first meeting on December 28 was the first meeting the DEM Party delegation held with the terrorist leader, and the second meeting was held on January 22, 2025.

HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL GO TO İMRALI? WHO WILL GO?

The İmralı Delegation will go to the meeting with a delegation consisting of 7 people. While only Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan participated in the previous two meetings, according to the statement made by the DEM Party, the names included in the delegation are as follows:

Ahmet Türk, Pervin Buldan, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Tülay Hatimoğulları, Tuncer Bakırhan, Member of Parliament and Öcalan's lawyer Cengiz Çiçek, and Faik Özgür Erol.

WILL A STATEMENT BE MADE AFTER THE MEETING?

Following the meeting to be held with terrorist leader Öcalan on Thursday morning, the 7-person delegation will hold a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday, February 27, at 17:00.

It is expected that Öcalan's 'call to lay down arms' will be announced in this statement.

In the statement released after the first meeting, signed by Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who participated in the meeting, it was stated: "We held a comprehensive meeting with Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı on December 28, 2024. His health is good, and his morale was quite high. The assessments he made regarding finding a permanent solution to the Kurdish Question were of vital importance."

WILL THE TERRORIST LEADER'S VIDEO BE RELEASED?

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç stated that requests for the call expected to be made by PKK terrorist organization leader Abdullah Öcalan to the organization to be in video format are contrary to regulations.

Answering journalists' questions, Tunç said, "Our regulations regarding a convict meeting from prison via video are not suitable for this."

WHAT DID BAHÇELİ SAY IN HIS CALL?

MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli made several statements regarding Abdullah Öcalan after shaking hands with the DEM Party benches at the opening of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on October 1, 2024. In his group meeting on October 15, Bahçeli had requested that PKK terrorist organization leader Abdullah Öcalan instruct the organization's militants to lay down their arms and surrender. Bahçeli had demanded that Öcalan make this statement to unilaterally declare that terrorism has ended and the organization will be liquidated.

Bahçeli's calls continued on October 22. On that date, DEM Party Şanlıurfa MP Ömer Öcalan met with his uncle, PKK leader Öcalan, at İmralı Prison. Following this meeting, Ömer Öcalan stated in a post on his social media account on October 24 that terrorist leader Öcalan had sent a message stating that the isolation continues and that if conditions are met, the process will be moved to a legal and political ground.

Before the October 29 Republic Day, Bahçeli released a message stating that the Republic of Turkey does not have a Kurdish problem and does not have a dilemma based on ethnic or sectarian grounds. In his group speech on November 26, he emphasized that the contact between İmralı and the DEM Party group should be made without delay, expressing that "an ideal of a common future where terrorism has ended and the terrorist organization has been abolished" should be announced as a result of the meetings to be held with İmralı.