ISTANBUL
Turkey is determined to conclude the solution process, which refers to efforts to end the conflict with the outlawed PKK, with full support of the Turkish people, deputy prime minister said Saturday.
Yalcin Akdogan gave the remarks to media after he and Interior Minister Efkan Ala met with pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party, or the HDP leaders, including the party’s deputy chairs, Pervin Buldan and Idris Balukan, and Istanbul Deputy Sirri Sureyya Onder at the Prime Ministry’s Dolmabahce office in Istanbul.
He said that the government valued HDP’s statements on the issue of disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers' Party or the PKK. “The government sees HDP's statements on acceleration of disarmament process as important,” he said. “Laying down arms will further develop democracy,” he added.
About the government’s resolve to pursue the solution process, Akdogan said, “We are determined to conclude this (solution) process with full support of the public.”
The deputy premier also underlined that Turkey was at a very important phase in the ongoing process.
A delegation of the HDP also went to Imrali Island Friday to speak with the imprisoned PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
HDP’s Onder said his party’s support for the solution process was based on 10 “basic principles” that would constitute the backbone of a true democracy. He listed them as:
1. Democratic politics; definition and content.
2. Explanation of national and local dimensions of democratic solution.
3. Legal and democratic guarantee of free citizenship.
4. Topics in relation to democratic politics with state and society connection, and institutionalization of democratic politics.
5. Socio-economic dimensions of the solution process.
6. Democracy-security relations need to be approached by protecting public order and freedom in the solution process.
7. The legal solutions and assurances in the areas of women, culture and ecological problems.
8. The development of a pluralistic democratic understanding towards definition and adoption of identity.
9. The defining criteria of a democratic republic, in concept of common homeland and common nation and needs, to be determined in a pluralistic democratic system with constitutional and legal guarantees.
10. A new constitution that aims to adopt all democratic moves and transformations.
- Invitation to hold spring congress
Onder also said that the PKK had been invited (by Ocalan) to hold a congress in spring this year to make the historic decision to find common ground on the issue of laying down arms.
"The invitation is a historic declaration of intention to resolve the issue through democratic means instead of an armed struggle," he said.
He said that their main target was to democratically and permanently resolve the 30-year conflict.
"We call on all pro-democracy fronts and peace supporters to back the democratic debate about the solution process in Turkey," he added.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of HDP, also welcomed the decision to find common ground on the issue of laying down arms.
"I hope that the decision will be beneficial for all people living in Turkey," Demirtas said.
He called on all stakeholders to do their part to conclude the solution process peacefully. "The congress to discuss the issue of laying down arms will be held when the mentioned 10 principles are fulfilled,” he said.
The solution process was officially launched in 2013 to end the decades-old conflict with the proscribed terrorist group in the country's eastern and south-eastern regions.
The PKK has fought for an independent Kurdish state since 1984, and its terrorist attacks have claimed around 36,000 lives in Turkey.
Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.
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