Peace talks between Turkish authorities and PKK

                 
3 Kurdish MPs visited the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party Abdallah Ocalan in his prison cell in Turkey, amid peace talks between the party and Turkish authorities.             

In this context, Turkish media outlets said that Ocalan may call on the PKK’s leadership to cease fire, in a first step towards the party’s disarmament in spring.             

Turkey launched tentative negotiations with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Ocalan in his jail on Imrali island near Istanbul in October, drawing up a framework to end a conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people.            

But there has been little sign of progress since two Kurdish politicians met Ocalan on Jan. 3 to discuss ways to end violence which has destabilized Turkey and stunted development of the mainly Kurdish southeast since the PKK took up arms in 1984.           

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made clear that prominent Kurdish deputies who were filmed embracing militants would be barred from meeting the head of the PKK, deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

REUTERS/LBCI