“It is only a matter of time before the PKK announces that it has convened its congress,” Ayşegül Doğan, spokesperson for the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, said at a press conference at the DEM Party headquarters in Ankara on Friday. Doğan also commented on recent developments in Turkey’s political sphere, including the death of veteran DEM Party member Sırrı Süreyya Önder on 3 May.
Starting her speech by mentioning Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Ayşegül Doğan said, “Our pain is very fresh, our loss is very great. The burden he left behind is very, very heavy.” She highlighted the responsibility the DEM Party feels towards continuing the process for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.
Doğan stated that the alleged assassination attempt against Önder weeks before he died of a heart attack was being followed up seriously and that it hadn’t been published before because Önder “didn’t want to scare the public” at the time of the incident, instead wanting the political agenda to focus on the peace process.
Saying that it is only a matter of time before the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announces that it has convened its congress, Doğan added, “We are waiting for this historical step, this historical decision with great seriousness and importance.”
“We said that words, not weapons, should speak,” Doğan continued, highlighting the need for democratic politics in Turkey so that “weapons can be deactivated”.
Addressing the rumours that DEM Party MP and Imrali delegation member Pervin Buldan had been involved in a traffic accident in Italy when traveling to an international conference in Rome, Doğan clarified that there was in fact a traffic accident but that it should not be considered as an “assassination attempt”.
“This accident took place when the driver of the car in which Pervin Buldan and DBP Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır were travelling accidentally reversed into the opposite direction. There was almost no material damage and no one was injured,” Doğan stressed.
