In January 2013, peace negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish Government were initiated and from between January and March he met several times with politicians of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) on Imralı Island. On 21 March, Öcalan declared a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state. Öcalan's statement was read to hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Diyarbakir who had gathered to celebrate the Kurdish New Year ("Newroz"). The statement said in part, "Let guns be silenced and politics dominate... a new door is being opened from the process of armed conflict to democratization and democratic politics. It's not the end. It's the start of a new era." Soon after Öcalan's declaration, the functional head of the PKK, Murat Karayılan responded by promising to implement a ceasefire. During the peace process, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) entered parliament during the parliamentarian election of June 2015. The ceasefire ended after in July 2015 two Turkish police officers were killed in Ceylanpinar.