DTP conditionally ready to talk

“If government sends the right message, then we guarantee that within three months violence will be removed from Turkey’s agenda,” he told to Today’s Zaman in an exclusive interview.

In July the government launched a democratization initiative which aims to solve Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish question. Since the beginning of the process there have been many topics under discussion, but one of the hottest topics is addressing the issue of whom and under which conditions, which party or side should talk to.

The government frequently underlined that it will never consider discussing the issue with the PKK, saying the only party with a voice in this process is the nation itself.

The opposition parties -- the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) -- claimed that the government is discussing the issue with the PKK. Meanwhile, the DTP was criticized for not taking a leading role in the process, instead saying the government should discuss the initiative with the PKK.

Demirtaş, while explaining the reasons for their stance, said that first of all there is not even implicit acceptance the DTP should be considered to be party to talks during the process.

“The government is not telling us that ‘you might not consider yourself to be the representatives of the PKK, they do not consider you to be their representatives either, but still, by talking to you and by asking for your opinion regarding the solution to the Kurdish question, we will pretend that we are talking to the PKK.’ The government is not telling us that whatever we say, they will be considered our comments to be the words of the PKK, they are not saying that whatever they say to us would be the same as if they were talking to the PKK.”

Demirtaş claimed that the government should recognize the cultural rights of the Kurds instead of acting as though their main aim is to eliminate the PKK.

“How can you eliminate something? Either you kill it, or it surrenders. They are saying that their aim is to eliminate the PKK and they are asking to the DTP to cooperate in this elimination process. To ask the DTP to cooperate in eliminating the PKK actually means telling the DTP to climb up to the gallows, put a noose around its own neck and kick away the stool. We are a political party, we are not an association created to support the AK Party [Justice and Development Party],” Demirtaş said.

According to Demirtaş, the crucial question is if the process is aiming to eliminate the PKK or solve the Kurdish question. “If the aim is to solve the Kurdish question, we as the DTP have suggestions to help achieve this. We suggest strong local administrations, a new Constitution and education in the mother tongue. If we are listened to on these matters then the DTP can take the responsibility alone, without making the PKK intervene in the process. If we are listened to then the PKK will lay down its arms. This is what we are saying and we are even giving guarantees on this. We are that sure, we are that self-confident. If the government takes these steps and if the PKK still talks about an armed struggle then the PKK will have no support bases,” Demirtaş argued.

According to Demirtaş, if the government takes steps to give more rights to Kurds, the side effect will naturally be the elimination of violence, not only the elimination of the PKK.

“The government should talk about eliminating violence as a whole, not only the PKK, because many Kurds consider themselves to be the ones who were called ‘terrorists’. If the government says it aims to eliminate violence it will not irritate Kurds because this is what they want anyway,” he said.

Demirtaş underlined that if the government makes giving Kurds the rights they deserve as human beings their priority, the natural outcome will be the elimination of violence and then the DTP will be a party the government can talk to.

“If the aim is the elimination of the PKK then we are saying that under these conditions the party to talk to is the PKK. Despite this, in order to not to block the process, we are saying we only support the part of this process which gives people more rights,” he said.