Statements from Özgür Özel following the extraordinary CHP MYK meeting

Following the PKK attack in the Operation Claw-Lock region in Northern Iraq, where 9 of our soldiers were martyred last night, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel had announced that the CHP MYK would meet in an extraordinary session following the tragic news.

After the CHP MYK meeting, Özgür Özel appeared before the cameras to make a press statement.

"WE DID NOT FALL FOR THE GAME OF LIGHTENING THEIR RESPONSIBILITY"

Özel's statements are as follows:

"Out of our 25 soldiers who have been martyred in the last month, 23 are from the Claw-Lock region. We requested that Parliament convene. We reminded those in positions of responsibility of their duties. In our group meeting on December 26, we said, 'Enough is enough, whatever needs to be done, let it be done.' We received no response to the questions we asked. We did not sign the same text as them; we did not fall for the game of lightening their responsibility. We drafted and published our own declaration.

We did not sign the same text as them; we did not fall for the game of lightening their responsibility. We drafted and published our own declaration. You signed it that day, and you became so insolent as to treat the CHP as if it were protecting a terrorist organization. You unleashed your supporters on social media, and even in sacred places of worship, against us.

"DID THE SIGNATURES SIGNED THAT DAY PREVENT THE MARTYRS OF LAST NIGHT?"

So what happened now? Did the signatures signed that day prevent the martyrs of last night? If the questions left unanswered that day had been answered, if these deficiencies we mentioned had been addressed; could the treacherous attack last night, which was exactly the same as the others, have taken nine more of our children? It is easy to treat those who ask, 'My friend, what is happening, will this never end?' after losing six martyrs twice in a row as traitors. Come on, if the signatures you signed had stopped the martyrs... That is why we will continue to ask these questions, not to line up behind those responsible, to object, and to seek justice. Of course, you say that the blood of our children will not remain on the ground; the blood of their comrades-in-arms is being spilled on top of the blood of our children.

Instead of saying 'may the blood of our children not remain on the ground,' we are now saying 'may the blood of our children not be spilled.' For this, we say take precautions, we say be rational. If that base area is to be occupied, security measures must be fully implemented. If they cannot be implemented, we say those children should not be sacrificed there. It is not enough to just sit in ivory towers, tweet from the 25-degree comfort of heated homes, and call everyone who comes along a terrorist. Those children are dying in minus 14 degrees. And fire is falling into the hearts of their mothers and fathers in brick houses. Only your tweet falls, nothing else falls into the picture."

"WE DID NOT FIND IT APPROPRIATE TO HOLD A RALLY"

While security meetings are held in palaces; the pain is experienced in tents and poor homes.

They are making the Governor deny that our martyr's family lives in a tent. Those who are not ashamed to hang flags on brick houses were ashamed to hang a flag on a tent once the situation of the martyr's family was revealed... Yet, their ministers explained the situation.

Because our rally, which was to be held tomorrow at 1:00 PM, coincides with our martyrs' funerals, we did not find it appropriate to hold a rally on a day when we will be in mourning for our nation."