Erdogan says to receive pro-Kurdish party delegates Thursday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that his much-anticipated meeting with the country’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) will take place the following day. 

"Tomorrow, we will receive the DEM delegation, meet with them and confirm our will to achieve the goal of a terror-free Turkey,” Erdogan said at his ruling Justice and Development Party’s parliamentary group meeting. 

The DEM Party has been mediating peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since late last year. In March, the party requested a meeting with Erdogan.

The meeting could be a significant step in the ongoing talks. 

DEM Party delegates, which include veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk, have held numerous meetings with Turkey’s key political parties, as well as the Kurdistan Region’s top officials and ruling parties to convey Ocalan’s peace message. 

Though the peace talks have slowed down in recent weeks, the planned meeting with Erdogan could revitalize efforts to end the conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has claimed over 40,000 lives since its 1984 onset.

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