Selvi writes on which DEM Party members will be granted 'Imralı permission'

MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, in a speech to his party's parliamentary group at the beginning of October, had called for Abdullah Öcalan, who is held in Imralı Prison, to 'benefit from the right to hope' and to 'speak at the DEM Party's parliamentary group meeting'.

Reiterating this call frequently, Bahçeli said on Tuesday, "We stand by exactly what we said at the October 22 group meeting. The meeting between Imralı and the DEM group should not be delayed."

RAPID TRAFFIC

Following these remarks by Bahçeli, the question of 'whether a meeting will take place' began to seek an answer. On November 26, the day Bahçeli made his speech, DEM Party Group Deputy Chairperson Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit announced that they had made an official application to meet with Abdullah Öcalan in Imralı.

AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, following the AK Party's group meeting on November 27, responded to journalists' question, "How do you evaluate Bahçeli's call for 'Imralı and the DEM Party to meet'?" by saying, "They are meeting."

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç also spoke on November 27 regarding the DEM Party Co-Chairpersons' application for Imralı. Tunç stated, "We are evaluating the application. A response will be given within a reasonable time."

While the debates over 'whether there will be a meeting or not' continued, a claim emerged last night that the Ministry of Justice had granted permission for the meeting. However, the DEM Party reported that they had not received any feedback from the ministry regarding their application to meet with Abdullah Öcalan.

'A MEETING WILL BE ARRANGED'

Following these recent developments, Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote that DEM Party members would be allowed to meet with Öcalan. In his article titled "DEM members will go to Imralı, but which DEM members?", Selvi summarized the following:

"(...) The DEM Party Co-Chairpersons applied to the Ministry of Justice for a meeting. A meeting between DEM members and Öcalan will be arranged. However, will the Co-Chairpersons of DEM go, or will other names from within DEM be preferred?

Because the Co-Chairpersons of DEM are against the resolution. They act in coordination with Qandil. What is important is not the meeting with Öcalan, but the accurate conveyance of Öcalan's messages. Because this is not a tourist trip. Ömer Öcalan met for 2 hours. We know one sentence. Qandil did not even find Öcalan's messages worth evaluating. Therefore, experienced names from within DEM who support the resolution and can accurately convey Öcalan's messages may be preferred."

News Source: 12punto