Özgür Özel's 'Kurdish issue' statement: We promise to solve it

The Republican People's Party (CHP) Diyarbakır Provincial Congress convened today at a wedding hall in the Bağlar district. CHP Diyarbakır Deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu was elected as the Congress Chair. CHP Diyarbakır Provincial Chairman Abdullah Atik delivered the opening speech of the congress.

“TWO THINGS HAVE NO COLOR”

CHP Group Chairman and General Chair Candidate Özgür Özel stated the following:

"I am one of the few people who has visited Diyarbakır the most on behalf of the CHP after Sezgin Tanrıkulu. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to our entire organization here, in the person of our provincial and district chairs, for their great struggles in this difficult geography for the CHP. Representing the party in Diyarbakır, raising a voice against injustices, and standing in the right place can be interpreted differently by other sides. But two things have no color. One of them is the tear in a mother's eye, and the other is the sweat on a laborer's brow. There is no Turk, Kurd, Alevi, Sunni, right-winger, or left-winger in this. We will walk together toward tomorrows where tears will not stream from mothers' eyes and laborers will receive the reward for the sweat on their brows. We will build the future together.

“WHATEVER PERTAINS TO PEACE, DEMOCRACY, BROTHERHOOD, AND FREEDOM IS OURS”

We must respectfully commemorate Gaffar Okkan, Ape Musa, Tahir Elçi, and the values we have lost, whose names I cannot mention, and for whom we all grieve together. And we must repeat this promise: Whatever pertains to peace, democracy, brotherhood, and freedom is ours, and these demands are never a crime. I bow respectfully with you in the face of Diyarbakır's demand for peace and brotherhood.

“THEY DENY THAT THERE IS A KURDISH ISSUE IN TURKEY”

The country is currently being governed by someone who once said, 'The Kurdish issue is my issue.' Now, they deny that there is a Kurdish issue in Turkey. Putting aside where they have drifted, we see and know the Kurdish issue, and we promise to solve it—without making it a subject of political exploitation—and to walk this path, friends. We promise.

“WE REJECT THE DAGGER OF TRUSTEESHIP STRUCK AT DEMOCRACY”

A country where some provinces and some voters can elect a mayor while others cannot is not called a democracy. You can cast a vote and elect a mayor in Manisa; you can do it in Istanbul, Osmaniye, Yozgat, or Trabzon. But when it comes to Mardin, Muş, or Diyarbakır, they say, 'You elect, but I will remove them and appoint whoever I want.' We reject such a democracy, this 'trustee democracy,' this dagger of trusteeship struck at democracy. Furthermore, regardless of which party they vote for, we know that the votes cast by the people of Diyarbakır are as equal and free as the votes cast in every corner of Turkey. We also never find it right that different treatments are applied to their representatives.

“I HEARTILY BELIEVE THAT WE MUST DEFEND A BOLD, LEFT-WING, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC POLITICS”

I have in my hand our policy document, which we express as 'The Century of Change, The Change of the Century.' Undoubtedly, as a child of this party who has been called to every place from 975 districts in 81 provinces, who has traveled to the districts of Diyarbakır together... having introduced 247 candidates in 41 provinces in the 2019 local elections, having spoken in more than 500 places, and having held 33 rallies in 11 provinces just between May 14 and May 28, we were all very saddened, worn out, and devastated on the night of May 28. The vote received by the Chairman in Diyarbakır was important, and winning a parliamentary seat was important. But the election defeat we suffered on the path we set out on—calling it the election of the century and saying that those who harbor hostility toward the Republic, its founding cadres, the founding values of the Republic, and especially Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk would not be in power at the end of this election—bowed all our heads.

It was necessary to object to this divisive understanding that pushes us away. The referendum was 52-48 (percent), İhsanoğlu was 52-48, the previous presidential election was 52-48... We were able to take this election to a second round, but the result did not change: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 52, the opposition bloc against him 48. I object to his politics that cut us vertically; Kurds and Turks, right-wingers and left-wingers, Alevis and Sunnis, nationalists and those labeled 'not national'... Politics that pushes one side away, demonizes and alienates that pole, and wins elections by crowding its own side. Against this vertical politics that says, 'If they come, the call to prayer will be silenced, the flag will be lowered, this will happen, that will happen,' I heartily believe that the CHP must defend a horizontal, left-wing, social democratic, bold politics that touches everyone—the AK Party supporter, the MHP supporter, the HDP supporter, the İYİ Party supporter, and those who are angry and do not go to the polls—that deals with their poverty, deals with the injustices they suffer, and deals with their loneliness and insecurity.

“DİYARBAKIR IS NOT A ROAD, IT IS A TARGET FOR POWER”

I say this: I have never made my organization or my members bow their heads in the duties I have performed. Whether it was closing the Pozantı Prison or writing reports on human rights violations, I have never embarrassed you against that Süleyman Soylu, that Hulusi Akar, the Speakers of Parliament, or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. If you say, 'Özgür, our brother, our child, our comrade, you can lead this party, you can strengthen this party, you can bring this party to power...' I am ready. If you give me the way, let's walk together and take our party to power.

We will see beautiful days. We will succeed together; we will win together as the CHP. May your hands that applaud never suffer. This is how we will stand up together, and we will lift the party up. Some say, 'His path or that person's path passes through Diyarbakır.' Diyarbakır is not a road; it is a target. It is a target for peace, brotherhood, and freedom. Diyarbakır is a target for power. We will succeed all together.”