Minister Atalay touring smaller parties, NGOs after main opposition rejection

As part of his tour trying to convince smaller parties to support the Kurdish initiative, Atalay met with the head of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) on Tuesday and Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) head Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu on Wednesday.

Speaking to the press after his meeting with Hisarcıklıoğlu, Atalay said: “This is not an issue we can forsake over internal political polemics. Let's come together and solve this problem.”

 Interior Ministry Undersecretary Osman Güneş also joined the meeting at TOBB headquarters yesterday. In his statement to the press after the half-hour meeting, Atalay said the government was continuing its work to build common ground between different segments of society, adding that TOBB was the first civil society agency he met for this purpose.

During the meeting, Atalay explained to the TOBB council what the government wants and thinks. “The most important thing for us in this issue is that we find a solution together around a wide base of consensus with our civil society agencies, intellectuals and all segments of society.”

He continued: “We want to talk to everyone and hear their opinions. We are not setting out with predetermined answers and prejudices. We believe that this will strengthen Turkey. We are expecting to see support and contribution from every segment.”

He also thanked Hisarcıklıoğlu and the TOBB council. “This was our first meeting. We will have other meetings later. Let's make an effort all together to form a wide basis of consensus,” he said.

Between bread and liberty

Hisarcıklıoğlu also made a statement after his meting with the minister. He said: “We should not force our people to choose between earning their bread, their liberty and their security. He noted that TOBB was endorsing and supporting the Kurdish initiative.

He said the meeting was a good example of participatory democracy. He said TOBB's vision was to see individual rights and freedoms brought to the level of European Union democracies for all of the 72 million people in Turkey.

Noting that it was impossible to improve the economy without increasing the quality of democracy in a country, Hisarcıklıoğlu also stated that a good economy was also necessary to improve democracy. He said the level of development of a country cannot possibly be taken in an isolated fashion without regard to the development of its democracy.

Also yesterday, the interior minister met with Democrat Party (DP) leader Hüsamettin Cindoruk. Speaking after the meeting, Atalay said he told Cindoruk about the government's activities and what has been done up to this point. He also said he thanked the DP leader for his contribution.

As part of his tour to convince smaller parties, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay has met with the head of the DSP and TOBB President Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu.

Cindoruk also talked to the press, saying he took the opportunity to learn more about the Kurdish initiative. “This is one of Turkey's fundamental issues,” he said. DP Deputy Chairman Çağrı Erhan also spoke to the press, summarizing the DP's stance as, “We want a Turkey which doesn't fight but makes peace.” He said the DP's priority was the application of the fundamental principles of human rights in accordance with UN and EU criteria.

Meeting with DSP

On Tuesday, Atalay met with DSP leader Masum Türker at the DSP headquarters in Ankara. AK Party Deputy Chairman Abdülkadir Aksu and deputy chairman of the AK Party parliamentary group Bekir Bozdağ also attended the meeting.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday after the meeting, Atalay said the talks had been “very productive.”

Atalay expressed that one of the most important targets of the government's new democratic initiative to solve the Kurdish question was to make sure that participation in the solution process is at a maximum level. “This is not only a problem of the AK Party but of the whole country and of all of our political parties. This is a problem for all individuals living in Turkey. We would like to share and get the contribution of all our political parties. We want Parliament to be the roof under which this project will actually be carried out. We would like to see this continue as a state project. This is a problem that affects all of us.”

DSP leader Masum Türker also talked to the press after the visit, stating that the DSP believes that state-sponsored investments in the region would be an important contribution to the solution of the Kurdish question. Türker also said he told Atalay his party's belief that investments made in the region until today have been inadequate.

Atalay: CHP and MHP voters also want to see a solution

Atalay on Tuesday made a statement on the unwillingness of the CHP and the MHP to meet with him to talk about the specifics of the Kurdish question. Asserting that voters of both parties would like to see a solution, Atalay said, “What we are doing is a project of embracing one another.”

He said the government had the same sensitivity as any other political party regarding Turkey's unitary government and its territorial integrity.

The minister will be coming together with the Democracy Platform, a civil society group known for being close to the Democratic Society Party (DTP), as well as the nationalist Turk Hearths (Türk Ocakları), nationalist organizations affiliated with the MHP, the influential Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD) and rights' groups, including the  Human Rights Association (İHD), the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) and the Helsinki Citizens Assembly.