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CHP expresses support for talking to PKK

21 September 2012 22:55 (UTC +04:00)

The chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), whose deputy chairman earlier this week disclosed a text allegedly agreed by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and government representatives after a series of negotiations in Oslo in 2010, says the CHP is not against talking to the PKK, APA reports quoting Today’sZaman.
In televised remarks broadcast on Thursday, CHP leader Kemal KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu, responding to questions about CHP Deputy Chairman Haluk KoÃ§’s press conference regarding the Oslo talks, said: â€œWe are not saying why did you have the talks? We are saying what did you talk about?â€

KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu, who spoke to Alican TÃ¼rkoÄŸlu, a news show host at HaberTÃ¼rk TV, stated that the CHP was not against talking to the separatist group as long as it served to end the violence. However, he said the CHP was against debating points against Turkey’s political organization as a unitary state and taking the PKK’s opinion in the drafting of a new constitution for Turkey.

The CHP said talks should be conducted if that is what is necessary for a solution to Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish issue. Earlier in summer, KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu had called on all political parties at Parliament to sit down and talk about a solution. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan met with KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu after the call, but the invitation extended to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has yet to be answered.

The CHP, in its meeting with the prime minister, offered to set up a special commission on the Kurdish issue in Parliament and an independent commission of wise men outside Parliament. The CHP was criticized for using the Oslo talks, which were held secretly, against the government but then expressing support for talks. The CHP leader’s emphasis on the content of the talks came in response to a question regarding this discrepancy.

KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu further stated that the fact the Oslo meeting which was made public last year was held on June 15, shortly before the elections, showed that the government’s only concern was to tone down the violence ahead of the elections.

Not everybody in the CHP is of the same opinion. CHP deputy Emine Ãœlker Tarhan said the PKK should first lay down arms before any talks can proceed. CHP deputy BÃ¼lent Tezcan said the talks indicated that the government treated the PKK as an equal, and the Turkish state should not sit down with terrorists.

CHP leader KÄ±lÄ±Ã§daroÄŸlu released a statement on Friday afternoon, saying there were no differences of opinion inside his party. "There is only one view, and that is doing whatever it takes to end the bloodshed," he said.