Özgür Özel responds to DEM Party's 'Kurdish issue' call

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel made striking statements at his party's group meeting.

He also responded to the DEM Party's call for the CHP to break its silence on the Kurdish issue.

Özel stated, "Regarding this process itself, people ask, 'What will the CHP say?' The CHP will say what it has to say in its own words. It will not speak through the mouths of TV commentators who speak with certain memorized scripts and calculated agendas, or those who speak without any thought or plan; it will speak through the mouths of its chairman, its spokespeople, and its deputies.

This party will not seek explanations from Mr. Devlet to prove its own nationalism in order to speak. This party will not wait for a call from DEM to pursue a democratic opening. Next week, this party, with its chairman and a strong delegation, will be in Diyarbakır, it will be in Mardin, it will be in Şırnak, it will be in Van.

This party will be there not so that fists are clenched, but so that hands can join together. This party will be there not so that conflicts continue and mothers continue to weep, but so that the most precious thing in the world—the tears of mothers—can stop. This party will do whatever is necessary with courage so that no more martyrs are lost, so that there is no longer an excuse to withhold services from those regions due to terrorism, and so that all citizens of this country can feel as free in practice as they are in the constitution, and see themselves as honorable and equal citizens of this nation. It will do so to ensure that a Kurd does not feel inferior to a Turk, and an Alevi does not feel less equal than a Sunni; let no one have any doubt about this. We will not do anything that traps us where Mr. Devlet wants us, nor will we follow the direction pointed out to us by the DEM Party co-chair. We will not do anything to justify Mr. Devlet's so-called concerns, nor will we do anything just to please others by making references to the past as DEM does. We will do whatever is necessary for the brotherhood of Kurds, Turks, Alevis, and Sunnis in this country, and to ensure that the tears of mothers stop."

News Source: 12punto