Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 4 June 2019, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 June 2019. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Monday, 17 June 2019 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Turkey: Kurds

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement made by Abdullah Ocalan, through his lawyers, on 22 May and the subsequent ending of hunger strikes; and what steps they will take to help develop a democratic process within Turkey aimed at peace and national reconciliation.

Answer: I am pleased to note that Abdullah Öcalan was granted access to lawyers on two occasions in May and I welcome the end of the hunger strikes. We hope that a peace process can be resumed in the future and have provided funding to a number of civil society organisations in Turkey seeking to build dialogue between different relevant actors on the Kurdish issue. We shall maintain our support for legitimate and democratic Kurdish groups in Turkey. Nevertheless, Mr Öcalan remains in our view a convicted terrorist and we condemn the acts of violence perpetrated by the PKK as we condemn all forms of terrorism.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL16010
Session: 2017-19
Subjects: Prisoners Politics and government Turkey Hunger strikes Kurds Öcalan, Abdullah
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk