DEM Party's first response to Bahçeli's 'One Kurdish, one Alevi deputy' proposal

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, the architect of the new reconciliation process, has effectively broken the mould with his statements throughout the process.

Having previously referred to PKK terrorist organisation leader Abdullah Öcalan as "chief terrorist," Bahçeli abandoned that language as the process began to mature and started referring to Öcalan as "founding leader."

Bahçeli's use of the words "One of the president's deputies should be Kurdish, one should be Alevi" at a recent meeting with members of parliament has ignited a new political debate.

"WHY SHOULDN'T THE PRESIDENT ALSO BE KURDISH?"

DEM Party, a partner in the reconciliation process, did not remain indifferent to Bahçeli's proposal. DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan asked, "Why shouldn't the president also be Kurdish?" and said: "We are candidates for governance. I don't know what the political equation will allow in the coming period, but it is valuable and meaningful for all the colours present in our country to have a place in government."

WHITE TOROS REACTION

Speaking ahead of the DEM Party Assembly, Bakırhan reacted to images showing a "white Toros" model car on the desk of one of the prosecutors, saying: "If a prosecutor sends a message by placing a white Toros on his desk on the very day that Mr Erdoğan criticised the white Toroses, we will not bow to that."

Bakırhan said the following:

"If, at a time when historic moments are being lived and dark deeds are being confirmed, surrender notices are still being issued and images of operations are still coming in; if even in movements unrelated to Kurds in Syria there are those who fall into the mindset of 'let no Kurdish breath be drawn'; if on these very days when we are discussing solutions for language, culture, and identity, a pregnant woman listening to Kurdish music is kicked in the stomach; if a prosecutor sends a message by placing a white Toros on his desk on the very day that Mr Erdoğan criticised the white Toroses; if opponents and elected officials are being silenced with the stick of the judiciary; if the will expressed at the ballot box is being crushed; if artificial agendas and smear campaigns against DEM Party are being developed every day; if pens in the media considered to be the mouthpiece of the government are spreading sedition and discord instead of peace; if the spokespeople of war and denial — who ran headlines calling the Kurdish people 'terrorists' when they would benefit from the Constitutional Court's rulings — want to pit peoples against each other, then let no one take offence: we will not bow to any of this, and we will continue on the path we know to be right, raising both our voice and our words."

"We say that the judiciary must step down from the white Toroses," said Bakırhan, adding: "The law must condemn hostility to the Kurdish language. Kicking our mother tongue must come to an end. Robes must cease to be in the hands of politics. Headlines must amplify peace, not war. Politics must be conducted with ideas, not slander. We are currently trying to build peace. We have no concern for winning anyone's approval of our people or our words. We have no such aim."

"OUR MEETING WITH MİT IS CONFIDENTIAL — I CANNOT SAY"

Bakırhan also answered a question about the visit paid by National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) Director İbrahim Kalın to DEM Party the previous day, saying:

"Our meeting with the National Intelligence Organisation is confidential. That is why I will not say what we discussed, but it went well, it went positively. We assessed the situation; they briefed us. That is as much as I can convey."

CALL TO CHP

In his statement, Bakırhan said: "Turkey's 100-year-old structural problems and today's political crises are intertwined and feed one another. The way to break this vicious cycle is not to separate these two agendas from each other, but to understand and see the connection between them."

Calling on the CHP, Bakırhan said the following:

"I say this with great sincerity and conviction: especially on the question of a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue, society's expectations of the Republican People's Party — given its identity as a founding party and its historical values — are very high. Because this issue is the most fundamental element of Turkey's democratisation and social peace. We believe that taking on this historic responsibility and participating in the effort to find a solution will be the most correct step for all of us and for the future of our country. Society as a whole also expects this from the political establishment and from political parties. I hope the political establishment will demonstrate this practice and working approach."

News Source: 12punto