ANKARA
Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan lashed out at pro-Kurdish party leaders Wednesday for doubting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stance on the solution process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or the PKK.
Addressing the media at the Prime Ministry’s Office, Akdogan said: "Our president is the architect of this process and such an attitude that wages war against him is unacceptable and will not benefit the process."
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party or the HDP, on Tuesday described Erdogan’s recent remarks about Turkey never having a Kurdish problem as a “political maneuver” ahead of June’s general election. Further, Demirtas alleged that the Turkish president was uneasy that the solution process was making progress "in spite of him."
Akdogan said that such statements did not help the spirit of the solution process. "They do not fit the sensitivities of the current phase of the process, but simply poison it and spoil the (positive) environment," he said.
The deputy premier noted that numerous "silent revolutions" took place in the solution process during the Justice and Development, or AK Party's 12-year rule, "all of which has Erdogan's signature on them."
"Nobody can degrade Erdogan into a position as if he is against the solution process. It is a key part of both the presidential vision of Erdogan and prime ministerial vision of Ahmet Davutoglu," he added.
When Erdogan headed the Turkish government, the so-called solution process was launched in 2013 to bring an end to the conflict with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
The four-decade long conflict between the group and the Turkish security forces has led to the deaths of some 40,000 people.
During a speech Tuesday, Erdogan maintained that the concept of a Kurdish "problem" lost its validity after the solution process in Turkey. "There is no longer a Kurdish problem in Turkey, but our Kurdish brothers and sisters have problems," he said.
"When I said ‘There is no Kurdish problem, anymore,’ some fronts tried to deflect my words as malevolent; however, my words were clear," he added.
