Kemalist Enlightenment Association reacts to 'political space for Öcalan' debates

Buket Müftüoğlu, spokesperson for the Kemalist Enlightenment Association, expressed her reaction in a public statement to the calls made by MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli regarding Abdullah Öcalan and the subsequent remarks by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel. 

In the statement, Müftüoğlu noted that Devlet Bahçeli's calls for "granting Öcalan a status of politicization" have been reflected by the DEM Party as "opening a democratic political space for Öcalan," and reminded that CHP Chairman Özgür Özel has also supported this proposal. The statement noted that Özel described this support as "standing on the right side of history." 

'NEVER ACCEPTABLE'

In her statement, Müftüoğlu said, "These statements, which aim to restore power, reputation, and an official political status to a bloody terrorist organization that has lost its strength—or as the terrorist leader himself put it, has 'expired'—and to its long-forgotten so-called leader in İmralı, whose influence over Kurdish terrorist structures in the region has faded, are never acceptable." 

'FUNDAMENTAL POLICY HAS BEEN DISREGARDED'

The statement included the following: "The half-century-old fundamental policy of the Republic of Turkey, which has been maintained without compromise in the process of fighting terrorism—namely 'distinguishing the PKK from our Kurdish-origin citizens in Turkey' and 'that Öcalan is not the leader of the Kurds'—has been disregarded by these statements." 

Kemalist Enlightenment Association spokesperson Müftüoğlu assessed that "opening the doors of legitimate politics to Öcalan and bestowing upon him a status that wounds the conscience, such as 'founding leadership,' is to approve the century-old impositions of the bloody pawns of a divisive imperialist project." 

'THE PROCESS IS BEING HIDDEN FROM THE NATION'

Addressing the statements of the DEM Party, the Kemalist Enlightenment Association commented, "The fact that the DEM Party's statements, which characterize Öcalan as an 'interlocutor of the state' and the 'main actor in opening the democratic political space,' are met with silence by the People's Alliance is also an exposure of the reasons for continuing the process by hiding it from the nation." 

The statement used the expression, "The Turkish Nation does not and will not ever accept its fate being handed over to the hands of a bloody terrorist organization leader," and included the view that "It is the right of the Turkish Nation to learn about the mysterious bargains that remain in the dark during a process initiated with the perception of a 'Turkey without terrorism' and in which the terrorist leader is designated as the sole interlocutor." 

CRITICISM OF ÖZGÜR ÖZEL

In the Kemalist Enlightenment Association's statement, it was said regarding CHP Chairman Özgür Özel: "By supporting this project, which is in complete contradiction to the founding principles and ideology of the CHP, he has revealed that he is not loyal not only to Atatürk's party but also to the founding ideology of the Republic of Turkey, which he founded, and has declared to the public that he is on the wrong side of history." 

The statement concluded with the words, "The Turkish Nation, with its heart and conscience, will continue to stand by our Mehmetçik (soldiers) who heroically give their lives and shed their blood for the fight against terrorism, our martyrs' families, and our veterans. How happy is the one who says I am a Turk!"