Speaking about the meeting he had with Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan, his brother Mehmet said the Kurdish leader underlined that without a genuine engagement by the Turkish government progress in the process towards a solution to the Kurdish question will be very hard. Öcalan told his brother that "having managed to spare lives for 8 months now is very important, but the process is not unilateral. For it to work the government should take its responsibility and its share of work". Öcalan added that he will continue to do his best for the process to succeed but underlined that "this alone will not provide a solution. The government must act".