Turkey adviser says jailed PKK leader to join disarmament panel

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan will join a disarmament panel as part of the peace process to end decades of deadly violence with Turkey, a top presidential adviser said Thursday.

Turkey's parliament in August voted through a law offering limited amnesty for militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the first legislative step to ending the conflict.

As part of the process, four sub-committees were set up to oversee practical aspects of the PKK's decision to disband following a call by Ocalan -- one of which relates to disarmament.

The new law did not specify what will become of Ocalan, 77, who has spent the past 27 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.

Speaking to the Turkish Press Federation, Mehmet Ucum, a top advisor to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Ocalan would take part in the disarmament sub-committee.

But he made it clear that did not mean Ocalan would be released.

Ucum said the arrangement had been reached to allow Ocalan to play a more effective role in the process in remarks carried by private NTV television.

"This is a dialogue process being conducted with Ocalan. The objective is a difficult one: to ensure the dissolution of the militant group," he said.

Ocalan has played a key role in advancing efforts to end the conflict from his cell on Imrali island with the PKK leadership repeatedly demanding that he be freed as part of the process.