Delegates from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) announced on Friday plans to meet with imprisoned Kurdish politicians Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ this weekend to discuss developments following their landmark meeting with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The  DEM Party delegation will meet with Demirtaş at Edirne Prison on Saturday and Yüksekdağ at Kandıra Prison on Sunday. Both meetings are set to begin at 1 p.m. local time, according to a party statement.
Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ are former co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the DEM Party’s predecessor, and have been imprisoned since 2016 on charges widely criticized by international human rights organizations as politically motivated.

The planned visits are part of the DEM Party’s broader outreach to advance peace talks after meeting with Öcalan at a prison on İmralı Island in late December.
During that historic engagement Öcalan expressed readiness to support peace talks aimed at ending Turkey’s decades-long Kurdish conflict. The DEM Party has since been consulting with major political parties and key figures in Turkish politics.

While no statements are expected immediately following the prison visits, the party indicated that a comprehensive briefing would be provided at a later date