Erdogan: Gov't never made deal with terror organization

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated Sunday that the Turkish government had never agreed on any deal with the PKK terror organization, despite claims by certain opposition MPs on the contrary.
Erdogan, speaking at an energy facility inauguration ceremony in the province of Adana, in southern Turkey, replied to claims by the Peoples' Democratic Party’s (HDP) parliamentary group deputy chairman Caglar Demirel, who accused the Turkish authorities of denying a February 2015 “Dolmabahce Deal”, which according to her would have paved the way to peace with the PKK.

In her speech on the occasion of the 96th anniversary of the creation of Turkish parliament, Demirel claimed: “Our country, with the denial of Dolmabahce deal, was driven into a major war atmosphere”.

According to Demirel, the "deal" would have “establish[ed] lasting peace" between different ethnicities in Turkey.

Erdogan accused Demirel of talking “about a civil war” and said the PKK terror organization was backing her as well as the HDP.

“Again and again, [she] referred to the Dolmabahce deal. Which Dolmabahce deal? From where did something like that come out? Such a deal is out of question,” Erdogan said.

“A deal between this government and the terror organization is out of question, it did not happen," the Turkish president added.

In February 2015, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan met with HDP representatives, including Istanbul MP Sirri Sureyya Onder, at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

The meeting dealt with the then-ongoing "solution process". The HDP called the meeting a deal while Akdogan and other Turkish authorities, including Erdogan have repeated that there was no deal. Akdogan said that the two parties only expressed their respective stances with regards to the solution process, calling for the disarmament of the PKK terror organization.
The Turkish government launched the "solution process" initiative in early 2013 with the aim of bringing an end to the decades-long conflict with the outlawed PKK, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.

The PKK – also listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Since then, over 400 members of the security forces including troops, police officers and village guards have been martyred and more than 3,700 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.