ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday said that the peace process between the group and Turkey is entering a “new stage,” said the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy Party’s (DEM Party) Imrali delegation in a statement following a visit to the prison where Ocalan is kept.

The Imrali delegation on Sunday met with Ocalan, ahead of a planned meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that is set for Monday. 

The delegation consisted of DEM Party members Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar and Ocalan’s lawyer Ozgur Erol. The delegation released a statement of the contents of their meeting with the jailed PKK chief after the visit.

Ocalan "emphasized that the [peace] process is moving to a new stage. He stated that with the new steps to be taken, everyone, all of us, have responsibilities to fulfill the requirements of the process," read the Imrali delegation’s statement. 

Ocalan described the Imrali delegation's planned meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday as "historic", the statement noted, quoting Ocalan as saying that a commission that is set to be formed in the Turkish parliament will play "a major role in the direction of peace and solution.”

The Turkish parliament are set to form a commission focusing on the peace process, the commission is set to consist of 25 to 40 members and will oversee the reintegration of PKK fighters in Turkish society through the law, after the militant group’s dissolution, DEM Party MP Mehmet Kamac previously told The New Region.

Coinciding with the Imrali delegation’s meeting with Ocalan, Turkey’s defense ministry announced that 19 of their personnel had suffered from methane gas poisoning in a cave used by the PKK previously along Turkey’s border with the Kurdistan Region, adding that five of their personnel had lost their lives to the exposure. 

The delegation revealed that they had received the news during the visit, adding that the incident had “caused deep sadness for Mr. Ocalan and for all of us. On this occasion, we wish God's mercy on those who lost their lives and offer our condolences to their families and relatives."

The Imrali visit comes as peace talks between the PKK and Turkey to halt hostilities are set to enter a new stage this month with the PKK set to commence a disarmament process in the Kurdistan Region, upon a call by Ocalan, urging the militant group to disarm and dissolve themselves in an address in February. 

The PKK is an armed group that up until its disbandment in May 2025 claimed to fight for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey, predominantly engaging in armed struggle with Turkish forces from the mountainous borders of the Kurdish Region, Iraq, and Syria.

The group had long been recognized as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the US, and the European Union. It was also declared a banned organization by Iraq in 2024.