DEM Party's 'process' criticism: 'How will the public trust it?'

DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları attended a public meeting organized by her party in the Burhaniye district of Balıkesir.

Speaking there, Hatimoğulları said the following regarding the ongoing 'process':

'THE RIGHT TO HOPE MUST BE INCLUDED IN SOME FORM'

Tülay Hatimoğulları listed the issues she argued should be included in the joint report to be prepared by the commission in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM). Hatimoğulları spoke as follows:

'I hope that these corrections will be made in this report. Again, one of the fundamental points we see as a deficiency in the text leaked to the press is the right to hope. The right to hope must be included in this report in some form, and a formulation for this must be provided. This is important both due to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and for the thousands of people in Turkey who will benefit from the right to hope. Furthermore, the right to hope for Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, who is the main actor in the resolution of the Kurdish issue, must absolutely be included in this report.

Again, dear friends, another issue that should be included in this report is the special law. There are some points written regarding this. We will see what kind of details it will contain. The special law refers to the law that will ensure disarmament. Another heading is democratization. Concrete steps must be taken regarding democratization. What are these concrete steps? We have expressed this many times, and I am expressing it once again here. We will continue to express it until this problem is solved. For democratization, first of all, the trustee law must be withdrawn. Trustees must be removed from their duties, and elected mayors and municipal co-chairs must be reinstated. Because as you know, trustees were not only appointed to our party; trustees were also appointed to CHP municipalities. Therefore, both elected mayors and co-chairs must be reinstated. The trustee law must be abolished. If we are talking about democracy, democracy starts at the local level. If there is no democracy in local governments, if the person elected will not govern you, and if they are going to send you someone appointed from the palace, then you cannot even talk about the D of democracy here. Therefore, this must be implemented.

Again, serious changes to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the Anti-Terror Law (TMK), and serious regulations in the execution law must absolutely be included in this report as a proposal. Apart from this, dear friends, we have always expressed it; we will never get tired or weary of expressing it. ECHR and Constitutional Court (AYM) decisions must be implemented. In accordance with ECHR decisions, Selahattin Demirtaş, Figen Yüksekdağ, and all Kobani detainees must be released. Because there are very important ECHR decisions at hand. Likewise, there are Constitutional Court decisions; the decision made regarding Can Atalay must be implemented. Again, ECHR decisions also cover Can Atalay. They cover all Gezi detainees. They cover Osman Kavala and Çiğdem Mater. All of them must be released, dear friends.'

'HOW ARE WE GOING TO TRUST THIS PROCESS?'

Pointing out that no concrete steps have been taken while the process is being discussed, Hatimoğulları said:

'On one hand, a peace process is being discussed in Turkey. On the other hand, a resolution process for the Kurdish issue is being discussed. But on the other hand, no practical steps are being taken. Believe me, in the work we do in the field, we hear this a lot: The public says this. The Kurdish public clearly states this: 'We have not yet seen a concrete step from this government. How are we going to believe in this process? How are we going to trust this process? As long as we do not see a concrete step, there are deficiencies in our belief and trust in this process. We believe in our party. We,' they say, 'believe in Mr. Öcalan. We believe that they are conducting the process with great sincerity, but in the end, no concrete step is being taken.' All these criticisms are justified and correct criticisms. But we must also know this, dear friends: Peace will not be presented to us on a silver platter. In all the public meetings we have held, we have carried out over 2,000 meetings in this process, and we have underlined this in all of them. We must organize more for peace. For peace, for example, there should be no neighborhood in Balıkesir that we have not visited, no person we have not organized; no social space, no social movement that we have not reached. We must organize much more strongly together. If we are holding our actions with 100 people, we must be able to multiply this by 5 or 10 so that the voice of peace can be heard louder and higher.'

News Source: 12punto