New photos of PKK leader Öcalan released

A photo of Öcalan, with gray hair and a moustache, who appears much older than before, was released last week.

The PKK chief is seen sitting in a meeting with a pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) delegation in İmralı Prison as part of the ongoing settlement process between the PKK and the government. The Turkish government has been holding talks with the PKK leader to end the decades-old Kurdish dispute and armed conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives over the past three decades.

Öcalan called for cease-fire in his historic Newroz message on March 21, the beginning of spring for Kurds, and ordered PKK militants to withdraw from Turkish soil to its bases in northern Iraq.

The BDP holds regular meetings with the PKK chief to review the recent state of the settlement process and lay the groundwork for progress in the fragile peace process.