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“We must encourage those who speak about the ‘Kurdish question’ so that they can take appropriate steps,” said KCK Executive Council co-president Cemil Bayık in a special broadcast for Sterk TV. He made the statement in the wake of intense debates in Turkey, following statements that had been made regarding the Kurdish question.
Turkey’s main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had stated that the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), with its popular support and presence in the Turkish National Assembly, could be considered as a legitimate organisation, and that the Kurdish question could be resolved only with such an organisation.
HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar welcomed Kılıçdaroğlu’s approach to the issue and said that Kılıçdaroğlu’s statement represented an important step.
Bayık recalled that the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan said years ago that “the solution to the Kurdish question is the Parliament, the HDP is the interlocutor.”
Underlying Öcalan’s emphasis on the role of parliament and establishing a commission for the solution of the Kurdish question, Bayık also noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had worked together to eliminate the PKK. However, he stated that they could not attain their goals due to the resistance of the Kurds.
“They were affected by this (resistance), so the CHP could speak about the Kurdish question. What does that prove? If we had not secured the failure of the politics of the AKP and the MHP, if we had not put them in a difficult position, the CHP would never have brought the Kurdish question to the agenda,” he said.
“The CHP has existed for some time, why hasn’t it raised the Kurdish question before? Did the Kurdish question arise today? No, it’s been there for 100 years,” he added.
Bayık pointed out that whoever develops a solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey, they will support them to take appropriate steps.
“We must encourage those who raise the Kurdish question so that they can take steps,” he said and added: “In recent days, there has been a debate in Turkey about whether or not the interlocutor is Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) or not.” He described such discussions as “meaningless.”
“There is no such discussion amongst the Kurds. Abdullah Öcalan said that ‘the solution to the Kurdish question is the Parliament, the HDP is the interlocutor.’ In fact, he met with the HDP and said, “Talk to all the parties so that this problem will come to the parliament. Let the Council form a commission. I’ll come and give a speech at the commission.”
Bayık underlined the emphasis placed by Abdullah Öcalan on the significance of parliament in securing a solution of the Kurdish question.
He added: “Because the AKP did not have a policy to solve the Kurdish question. Rêber Apo understood that the AKP’s goal was to win the election and maintain its power. That’s why he stressed that the problem should be solved on legal grounds. Rêber Apo stated that the Kurdish problem should be solved in the parliament, so that no one exploits it or uses it for their goals, and a commission should be established.”
