He also stressed that a large part of the permission was also due to hunger strikes the Kurdish prisoners have been gone on in the past months.

Turkey judges had rejected demands by Ocalan lawyers since 2011.

Fabrice Balanche told Kurdpress in an interview that “the hunger strike of hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in Turkey has surely influenced the decision by Ankara. But above all Turkey wants to negotiate something with the PKK as the United States urges.”

“The United States is trying to persuade the Syrian Kurds to let the Turkish army enter the North: Manbij and Tel Abyad for instance. The United States is withdrawing from northeastern Syria, but they do not want the Syrian army and worse: Iraqi Shiite militias to replace them. They do not want a war between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds,” he said about the situation in northern Syria which is under the control of the Kurdish forces, adding that “They (the U.S. officials) would like a compromise between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, therefore an agreement between the PKK and Turkey is needed which would be the withdrawal of PKK members from northern Syria.:

Answering a question about Ocalan’s possible influence and power in the PKK, he stated that “he (Ocalan) has been in prison for 20 years. He remains the honorary leader of the PKK but what decision-making power can he have? He is cut off from the realities and evolution of the world in his prison.”

“The only chance of avoiding a war between the Syrian Kurds and Turkey would be a PKK withdrawal agreement from that region. Turkey is trying to show its good will in the United States, but I do not think that is sincere. It wants to eliminate the YPG totally because it considers that it is the Syrian branch of the PKK and that it is impossible to break the links between the two organizations. Erdogan believes in strength more than in negotiating with the PKK. I think Northeartern Syria is following Afrin's example,” he further stated about the situation in the north of Syria and the fate of the Kurds in relation with the U.S. and Turkey.

Reporter’s code: 50101