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Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Mithat Sancar has called on the opposition to unite against Ankara’s policies of war, slamming Turkey’s attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan and its planned offensive in northern Syria, Mezopotamya Agency reports.
Speaking during the party’s anti-war rally in Diyarbakır (Amed) on Saturday, Sancar said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, together with its far-right ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), continues its system of exploitation through its policies of war. He also said that as the government falls apart, it embraces new war policies.
“They go from door to door to ask for permission to wage war, in order to weaken the will of the Kurds in northern Syria. They have knocked on every door from Tehran to Sochi,” Sancar said, referring to President Erdoğan’s recent talks with his counterparts regarding Syria, “but they should know that there are millions in this country who will prevent the war” .
Sancar said that the AKP wants to use its planned offensives in Syria to hold on to power, also remarking that it will lose the next elections.
“Let us be aware of these plots and their aims. Let us unite in a joint struggle to stop their plans. This is our call to other opposition parties. We need to be aware of these plots if we want to introduce democracy to this country,” he said, as he vowed to ensure peace.
“This country can’t be saved from this vicious cycle if the opposition parties enter a nationalism contest with the government. No party can introduce democracy without objecting to the government’s war policies,” he said.
“We need to change this system of war and exploitation, which is why we’re expanding the democracy alliance,” he added.
During his speech, Sancar commented on the isolation imposed on the jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, saying that it needed to be lifted in order for a solution to the Kurdish issue and peace to be achieved.
“During a meeting with his lawyers three years ago, Öcalan said that he could bring an end to the clashes within a week. This isolation that has been imposed for 20 years aims at precisely that: to prevent the significant role Öcalan would play in ending the clashes. This isolation is an insistence on war policies and deadlock,” he said.
Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Berdan Öztürk was another politician to speak at the rally. Öztürk slammed the isolation imposed on Öcalan, and said that the only solution to the Kurdish issue is to talk to the leader of the PKK.
“They talk to Sochi for solutions. The solution is at İmralı,” Öztürk said, referring to the prison where Öcalan is held.
