All leaders except CHP open to presidential summit on Kurdish issue

“Everybody should be prudent,” he told journalists on Thursday in Albania where he was on a state visit. “The target of the terrorist organization is obvious, that is, to provoke violence on the one side and to impose it on the other. They should not be given such an opportunity.

Today is a time for solidarity.” There may be different views and different policies but political party leaders should come together, he said. If they cannot come together, he could organize a leaders’ summit, he said. “They should talk sincerely and if necessary in a closed session,” the president said in response to journalists’ questions. “I’m thinking of having the leaders gather in a round table meeting, but I have to carry out some preliminary work. I’m thinking of having a joint meeting with all of them, if it’s possible,” Gül said.

Gül’s remarks came after the deaths of seven Turkish soldiers in a terrorist attack on Monday in the province of Tokat. A faction of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack. The leaders of Turkey’s two main opposition parties, the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have strongly criticized the government’s ongoing efforts for a reform package that could settle the country’s decades-old Kurdish question, although they differ drastically on many other national issues. They were joined in their criticism by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Salih Kapusuz said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would definitely participate in the meeting planned by Gül. “Regardless of the topic, all leaders should respond positively to the president’s request. We have no doubt about that. Our nation is uncomfortable with political parties reacting politically to the president,” Kapusuz said in an interview with Today’s Zaman.

The MHP is also open to the idea of a leaders’ meeting. MHP Vice President Mehmet Ekici told Today’s Zaman that the party has always responded positively to calls from the highest office. “It is Devlet Bahçeli’s decision as to whether or not he will participate in such a summit. But I don’t think he would respond negatively to it,” he said.

The CHP is the only party which does not welcome the idea of having a leaders’ summit, even if it is in response to calls from the president. CHP leader Deniz Baykal has been to the presidential office only twice during Gül’s term in office. Onur Öymen, the CHP’s vice president, said that Baykal would not be keen on a meeting with all leaders but could come together with President Gül in a one-to-one meeting. “I don’t think the prime minister needs such a meeting. His attitude is obvious,” Öymen told Today’s Zaman.

Öymen accused the government of not responding to the CHP’s calls for reconciliation in such matters as the presidential election, the election of the parliament speaker and changing the Constitution. “It is important for us as to why the president is making this call. Are we going to fight or have dialogue with terrorists? First of all, we need to have an agreement on that. If the prime minister makes it clear that he is going to fight terrorism, then we can talk about how to do it. But there is no sign that the prime minister is decisive on the issue,” Öymen added.

Following the attack in Tokat, Baykal had expressed the opinion that continuing to work on the initiative process as if nothing had happened was equivalent to treason. Meanwhile, the DTP’s deputy chairman, Selahattin Demirtaş, said they are ready for a summit at the presidential office. “We believe that Turkey can solve these problems with dialogue. The president’s call is important at this critical juncture for Turkey. But the most urgent matter for the DTP is the closure case at the Constitutional Court at the moment. Still, we are positive about the president’s call in principle,” Demirtaş told Today’s Zaman.