“We are the political party that has most strongly underlined the urgency of resolving this process quickly and without contamination,” pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları said on Tuesday, calling for immediate steps towards a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question and the improvement of Abdullah Öcalan’s prison conditions.
Speaking in response to Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who demanded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) formal dissolution, Hatimoğulları said her party also did not wish to see any delays: “We too do not want this process to drag on. It is now inevitable that certain steps must urgently be taken to establish objective conditions for peace.”
Hatimoğulları stressed that the success of any disarmament process depended on Öcalan being able to communicate with his movement: “Mr Abdullah Öcalan, despite the harsh conditions on İmralı, stated in his last meeting that he continues his efforts for this process to reach a conclusion swiftly,” she said. “He has called for congress conditions to be created as quickly as possible.”
She emphasised that opening communication channels between Öcalan and the PKK is critical: “We have already underlined the importance of this in our delegation’s meeting with the Minister of Justice. If this process is to succeed without being derailed, urgent and swift action is necessary.”
Öcalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader, has been held under strict isolation on the Turkish high-security prison island of İmralı since 1999. DEM Party leaders have repeatedly demanded an end to his incommunicado detention, viewing him as a key actor in any future peace efforts.
Hatimoğulları also addressed reports that imprisoned former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ wish to contribute to a peace process. “We have no verified information about an established channel of communication, but we know clearly that all our friends in prison are extremely willing to contribute,” she said. “They have expressed, during visits and through messages, that whether inside or outside prison, they are ready to help.”
Regarding Bahçeli’s criticism of the recent Kurdish National Conference in Qamishli (Qamişlo), northeast Syria, Hatimoğulları responded: “We see the decisions taken there as supportive of Mr Öcalan’s call for peace and a democratic society. The declarations made align with this aim.”
She concluded by reiterating DEM Party’s commitment: “We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure this process is not derailed, and to support the success of both Mr Öcalan’s and Mr Bahçeli’s stated aims for peace.”
