"We have overcome the crisis and entered a new stage of [the settlement of the Kurdish problem] thanks to the input of [the Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah] Ocalan… We are currently discussing the specific points and methods of the new stage of reconciliation which will advance us further," Onder told journalists after the meeting with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan.
In October 2012 Turkish authorities started indirect talks with the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (KPP) Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence for his military struggle against Turkey, but still has authority over the country's Kurdish population.
The negotiations are aimed at reconciling the conflict between Ankara and Kurds that lasted for over 30 years and reportedly claimed more than 40,000 lives. HDP, the main Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament, has been mediating the talks.
The peace talks were endangered by the massive protests of Kurdish population which took place in Turkey in October 2014 claiming the lives of 42 people. The riots erupted as Turkish authorities refused to help the Syrian Kurds fight the Islamic State (IS) group in the Syrian city of Kobani, bordering Turkey. The peace talks were frozen for a month and resumed in November.
