AFYONKARAHISAR, Turkey
By Feyza Susal
The Turkish Prime Minister said Monday that the course of Turkey's solution process was in the hands of the pro-Kurdish opposition party.
Referring to Ankara’s solution process aimed at securing an end to a decades-long conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Ahmet Davutoglu called on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, to act as a political party in order to remain an integral part of the solution process.
"Only if it acts as a political party will HDP remain a stakeholder. The [solution] process will continue accordingly to the HDP's attitude," said Davutoglu during his visit to Turkey's western Afyonkarahisar province, on the sidelines of the weekend's 23rd Consultation and Evaluation meeting of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.
The government has been blaming the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, for inciting the recent pro-Kurdish violence in last month's deadly protests.
The demonstrations came after the Peoples’ Democratic Party issued a call via social media, inviting its sympathizers to take to the streets as a sign of solidarity with Syria's ISIL-besieged, Kurdish populated, town of Kobani.
Followed a week of violence that left at least 38 civillians and two police officers dead, along with scores of vehicles, state buildings, political party offices and shops damaged.
On Friday, the Turkish premier had issued a similar warning to the pro-Kurdish party, saying it was time to prove itself as a peaceful party "fighting only for a political cause." He also said that the HDP could not be considered as the only stakeholder in the solution process.
Meanwhile, Davutoglu reiterated his government's resolute stance to see the solution process through as soon as possible.
The initiative aims to put an end to the decades-long conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives between government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
The Turkish government has already begun to hold regular talks once a fortnight with the newly-established 'solution process council' -- a new step initiated by Davutoglu's cabinet -- to guide the efforts towards seeing the Kurdish issue through to a final agreement soon.
A 63-member committee called the ‘Board of Wise People’ -- a consultative body including writers, columnists and academics -- is overseeing the ongoing efforts. It has been actively working onsite in all seven regions of Turkey since early last year, with the aim of feeling the pulse of the Turkish public with regards to the solution process.
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