“The contents of the letter will determine the response of the CHP for the prime minister's demand for a meeting. No clue has been given as to the content of the initiative. Our party will evaluate the letter to see whether it provides details on the content of the initiative,” CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen told Today's Zaman.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has received harsh criticism from opposition parties for failing to inform the public about the content of the planned democratization package, through which it hopes to settle many of the country's long-standing problems, including its Kurdish issues. There is growing expectation that Erdoğan's personal letter to the CHP will provide information about some of the planned reforms.
Öymen hinted that his party would close its doors to the initiative unless the prime minister included details about the plans in his letter.
The CHP has so far remained skeptical about the initiative, with its officials expressing their concerns that the AK Party has embarked on this project in response to "pressure from foreign countries," particularly the United States.
Yılmaz Ateş, another deputy chairman of the main opposition party, accused the AK Party of not knowing what to do with the democratization package. “If the prime minister decides on what to propose [as part of the package] then we will certainly discuss it with him. Our position will depend on the attitude of the ruling party,” he noted.
The ruling party needs the support of the CHP or independent deputies in Parliament if it wants to amend the Constitution as part of its Kurdish initiative since the number of AK Party and pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputies is not sufficient for a constitutional amendment.
