Erdoğan vows to go ahead with Kurdish move despite DTP

“Everybody is laying their cards on the table for the national unity and brotherhood project. We are all witnessing this. This is a state project, and its interlocutor is the 72 million citizens of Turkey. What we are expecting is for everyone to lend their support to the project,” the prime minister stated on Sunday.

Erdoğan's remarks came in the wake of statements by DTP officials last week, who said the government's plans for the solution of the Kurdish question were over for them due to the Turkish state's treatment of the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan.

The pro-Kurdish party has long voiced allegations that Öcalan was being treated poorly in his prison cell. Öcalan is serving a life sentence on İmralı, located off the coast of İstanbul. He was the sole inmate until recently, but eight other convicts have now been transferred to the island, and he was placed in a different cell.

Throughout last week there was controversy about the prison conditions of the terrorist leader. Öcalan’s lawyers claimed that a new cell built for Öcalan is six-and-a-half square meters, compared to the old cell’s 12 square meters. The new cell’s window is reportedly high and cannot be looked through unassisted.

The Justice Ministry denied the claims in a statement last week. The ministry underlined that the quality of Öcalan’s new cell was much higher than standards set for inmates by the EU and the UN. The ministry also released pictures of the new cell.

Also yesterday, Erdoğan stressed that his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will continue to work on the Kurdish initiative. “We will hit the streets to tell our citizens about the initiative. We will struggle to tell all 72 million citizens about it,” he added.

Over the weekend, DTP supporters continued their violent rallies in eastern and southeastern Turkey, protesting Öcalan’s new cell conditions. On Sunday, protestors clashed with security forces in Diyarbakır and İstanbul. Protestors attacked security forces with stones, and police responded with tear gas and pressure water.

In Şanlıurfa, protestors attacked businesses in Atatürk Squre during their rally on Saturday. They also threw stones at the offices of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Grand Unity Party (BBP), chanting slogans in favor of the terrorist leader.

A rally in eastern Van resulted in the detention of seven protestors. Participants in the rally blocked several streets to the city’s main roads and attacked security forces with stones and Molotov cocktails. Four of the detainees were minors.

Saturday’s rallies were a continuation of demonstrations across the country that erupted last week after DTP claims about a “smaller and low-standard” cell for Öcalan.

In the Doğubayazıt district of eastern Van province, a group of around 200 DTP and PKK supporters clashed with police. Most of the protestors were children. The head of the Ağrı Police Department, Naci Kuru, expressed his sadness over the presence of minors. “We are extremely sorry to see that we have to clash with children who have been deceived [by the terrorist organization]. They are damaging their own children and businesses. It is impossible to understand,” Kuru stated.

Many shops in the district were destroyed by protestors, and many shop owners were obliged to shut down their businesses. During the clashes, one police officer was wounded. Police had to disperse protestors with tear gas.

Erdoğan dedicated a speech to the illegal and violent rallies organized by the DTP and PKK on Saturday, and warned citizens to be aware of acts of provocation. “There are people who want to insidiously and irresponsibly provoke this process. I want my dear citizens to be patient and act with common sense. If we are tempted with acts of provocation, then we will lose,” cautioned the prime minister.