Kurdish politicians and NGO representatives came together in Diyarbakir to hold discussions on “democratic autonomy”.

The co-head of Democratic Society Congress, or DTK, Ahmet Türk and Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir spoke during the workshop's opening session.

“Some consider the concepts ‘democratic autonomy’ and decentralization as if they were invented today," Türk said. "But democratic participation and pluralism were the main approaches of the first Parliament”

"Democratic autonomy" – including the establishment of regional parliaments with their own flags and symbols – is proposed by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) as a way to solve the country's Kurdish issue.

The two-day workshop is set to serve as a place for academics, journalists, experts and local Kurdish politicians to discuss “democratic autonomy” as a method to solve the Kurdish issue.

BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaþ and Aysel Tuðluk, the co-leader of the DTK and former deputy of the disbanded pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, also participated in the workshop.

After the opening speeches, reporters were asked to leave the hall, and the workshop continued closed to press.