New phase of reconciliation to proceed in Feb

The government is preparing to announce a new democratization package and create a monitoring committee in February as a final step to bringing a speedy resolution to the reconciliation process following the October Kobani protests.

The new democratization package will reportedly be announced in the last week of January or the first week of February.

The monitoring committee will convene following the announcement of the package in accordance with the talks between the PKK's imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and the government.

According to Turkish media outlets, the monitoring committee will consist of two groups, one of which will make contacts with the PKK and the other with the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). It will consist of 16 members in total with eight members in each group. One of the groups will visit İmralı Prison in February, where Öcalan is held, and the other group will visit the KCK administration in the Iraqi city of Irbil in the first week of March. If the talks go smoothly, Öcalan and the armed wing of the PKK will announce their pledge to disarm, which is likely to speed up the process of reconciliation talks. While the government has explicitly requested the total disarmament of the PKK, the armed organization only pledges to do this in Turkey as long as the conflict in Rojava – Syrian Kurdistan – continues. The reconciliation talks gained momentum following the Oct. 6-7 Kobani protests. Both the government and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the representatives of the Kurdish side, have said that they have reached a consensus on which issues to address.

After a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan on Monday, the HDP reconciliation committee will visit the Qandil Mountains on Wednesday and share the revised and scheduled road map, as well as the views of Hakan Fidan, the undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the government with the KCK. The committee is expected to consist of HDP Deputies Hatip Dicle, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Leyla Zana. Önder gave a press statement following his meeting with Akdoğan saying that the period of crisis has been put behind and a productive period is ahead. He said that although all issues have not been resolved, the government and the HDP will continue to resolve issues.