Fatih Yaşlı evaluates Öcalan's message for 12punto: 'We need to wait for the response from Qandil'

Hazal Güven - 12punto.com.tr

The long-awaited statement from PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has arrived. The DEM Party Imralı delegation announced the text, in which Öcalan calls on the PKK to lay down its arms, to the public during a press conference. Evaluating the statement for 12punto, political scientist Fatih Yaşlı said, "Can we really talk about a democratic process while Turkey is being governed by the AKP-MHP duo? We need to wait for how the PKK will respond to this call, we need to wait for Qandil's response."

Regarding the text, Yaşlı assessed that it "has caused the Kurdish movement to abandon all its historical demands regarding the status of the Kurds and has trapped the Kurdish issue within a vague parenthesis of democracy," and added the following:

'TRAPPED WITHIN A PARENTHESIS OF DEMOCRACY'

"Regarding the conditions of the PKK's birth, Öcalan used the expressions, 'The PKK was born on a foundation created by the 20th century, the century of the most intense violence in history, two world wars, real-socialism, the Cold War environment experienced globally, and the denial of the Kurdish reality, specifically due to bans on expression and freedoms,' and spoke of a kind of necessity.

Secondly, he actually said that the organization should have disbanded itself back in the 1990s. But he said, 'conditions did not allow it.' Thirdly, and more importantly, he stated that there is no karşılık (equivalent/validity) for all political status demands such as an independent state, federation, or confederalism.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the primary demand was independence. Over time, it had reached a point like democratic confederalism. Now, the Kurdish movement has abandoned all its historical demands regarding the status of the Kurds and has trapped the Kurdish issue within a vague parenthesis of democracy.

First of all, can we really talk about a democratic process while Turkey is being governed by the AKP-MHP duo? We need to wait for how the PKK will respond to this call, we need to wait for Qandil's response."