ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top ally, Devlet Bahceli, on Tuesday criticized the parliamentary committee tasked with advancing peace talks for what he described as dragging its feet on meeting with jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

In May the PKK, which has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey for over four decades, announced its plan to disarm as part of nearly two years of peace talks between Ocalan and the Turkish government. Turkey’s parliament set up a 51‑member committee from the major political parties in August 2025 to create a road map for resolving the Kurdish question, proposing legal and political reforms tied to the PKK's disarmament.

Details: “If everyone insists on sticking their heads in the sand, I’m saying it openly: I will take three friends with me, and I will not hesitate to go to Imrali,” Bahceli said, referring to the prison island off the coast of Istanbul where Ocalan has been serving a life sentence without parole since 1999.

Addressing his party’s lawmakers at parliament, Bahceli, who leads the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), added, “I would say whatever I have to say with self-confidence, looking into his eyes.”