Turkey's Kurdish peace process on track: ruling party

Turkey's ruling party today said it was optimistic about the prospects for the peace process with Kurdish rebels after a surge in violence raised concern about its viability.
The spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Besir Atalay told reporters the government was about to complete a roadmap aimed at ending the three-decade old Kurdish insurgency.
His comments came a day after the expiry of a deadline set by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- whose rebellion for self-rule in southeast Turkey has claimed more than 40,000 lives -- for the government to come up with a roadmap.

"The roadmap has now largely been completed and we are sharing its details with the other (Kurdish) parties," Atalay told reporters in Ankara.
"New dialogues will be opened up soon and new meetings will be held," he said. "There are no setbacks. We will stick to the timeframe we have set.
"We are sincere about the peace process and committed to moving it forward."

PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in an island prison in the sea of Marmara, had given the government until yesterday to show it is serious about peace.
Kurdish rebels have been infuriated by the lack of action by Turkey against Islamic State (IS) jihadists trying to take the mainly Kurdish town of Kobane just across the Syrian border.

Turkey was planning to expel over 150 Kurds from the Kobane region who were detained on suspicion of having links to the PKK, said Ibrahim Ayhan, a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP).
The Turkish authorities had last week arrested some 270 Syrian Kurds from Kobane, holding them in a sports hall in the the border town of Suruc. Over 100 have of those have already been released.
The PKK had warned of a return to violence if Kobane fell and the government did not unveil its roadmap by October 15.
At least 34 people were killed and 360 wounded earlier this month when Kurds took to the streets in several cities across Turkey to vent their anger at the government's Syria policy.