Sirri Sureyya Onder, a prominent pro-Kurdish party lawmaker and key figure in Turkey's tentative process to end the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) insurgency, died on Saturday at age 62, his party said, Reuters reported.
Onder, the deputy parliament speaker, was among MPs from the DEM Party who recently met jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and held talks last week with President Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to end a decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands.
He was taken to hospital around two weeks ago after suffering a heart attack and aortic rupture, according to the hospital where he was being treated in Istanbul. After his heartbeat recovered, he underwent some 12 hours of surgery.
Onder then spent 18 days in intensive care but died due to multiple organ failure on Saturday, the Istanbul hospital said.
Known for his wit, poetry, and warm public presence, Onder was also an accomplished director and screenwriter of works that blended political storytelling with social critique, according to Reuters.
