A Crucial Stage in Kurdish Peace Process

• 02.24.2015, 17:56
•  Region,  World

Тhe Kurdish problem continues to be on the agenda of the Turkish government. However, this process is not in progress. Kurdish politicians continue blaming Turkey because they think Turkey does not want to solve this problem democratically. In its turn, the government says it hopes for a quick end of the armed struggle. Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that the settlement process of the Kurdish issue has reached a crucial stage.

It was expected that on February 15 there would be a joint statement that could help improve the fate of the Kurdish bid. The co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) accused the government for one-sided acts that have obstructed a joint statement. According to Hurriyet, the HDP’s Selahattin Demirtaş spoke about it while responding to reporters’ questions on the content of a 10-point "resolution draft" by Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Senior PKK leaders also welcomed the Öcalan plan, but criticized the government for not taking concrete steps on the Kurdish bid.

The HDP said the government should make the content of the Öcalan plan public. "Or we want the negotiations to start as soon as possible," Demirtaş said. "We are working for sustainable peace."

In this framework Kurds do not hide concerns about the controversial security bill which should significantly expand the powers of the security forces and the intelligence services in Turkey. "If the government wants in the same time to tighten security legislation and make progress in the peace talks that means that the government is not "on the same wave" with us", - say Kurdish politicians.