Atalay: Government to accelerate democratization initiative

The minister also emphasized that security forces are in full control of the violent street protests being held to hamper the government's efforts and called for more common sense. “Our aim is to eliminate acts of terror in the country and grant broader freedoms to our citizens,” he explained. Atalay's remarks came during a press conference on Thursday following a coordination meeting held on Wednesday attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several state ministers. The meeting was held to re-evaluate the situation in the country in the wake of increasing tension due to a series of illegal demonstrations by supporters of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over the past two weeks in eastern and southeastern parts of the country. A demonstration turned violent on Tuesday after a shopkeeper opened fire on demonstrators, killing two and wounding eight.

Among the participants of the coordination meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Atalay.

In the summer months, the government launched an initiative to solve the decades-old Kurdish question but it failed to gain the support of the opposition parties. Tension grew even higher after the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) by the Constitutional Court last week, resulting in several clashes between demonstrators and civilians.

Yesterday, Atalay stressed that they are very well aware of the people encouraging the provocations. He said there was no need for panic as everything is under control.

According to many experts, the PKK trying to incite a civil war in order to force the government to declare a state of emergency in the region. “Until now 1,562 people have been detained and 363 of them have been arrested. We are very well aware of the situation and we are analyzing each incident and taking the necessary measures,” he said.

He also urged the press not to exaggerate these incidents and said they had complete trust in people’s continuing common-sense:

“Those who are trying to provoke people forget the fact that in this country, we have been living together for 1,000 years and even in the most difficult times we did not separate, just the opposite -- we shared our happiness and worries,” he said. Atalay was critical of the opposition and accused them of not acting with good intentions. He said they had expressed the content and the aim of the democratization initiative but the opposition claimed they were unknown:

“I am sorry to say that Turkey needs a responsible opposition; we are talking about brotherhood while they are talking about separation,” he said. Atalay underlined that in order to talk about the measures needed to stop PKK facilities in northern Iraq, they will continue with their international efforts and the three-party meeting between Turkey, Iraq and Syria will convene next week. “The agenda of the meeting will be packed,” he said.

The aim is to eliminate terror

He underlined that the basic aim of the initiative is more freedom and democracy for everyone and the elimination of terror. “We want to create an atmosphere in which all views can be expressed without violence and terror and also eradicate all the areas which are open to abuse and would lead to separation and polarization. When violence talks ideas are silenced and we want to change that,” he said.

Atalay strongly emphasizes elimination of concept of terror

Pro-Kurdish circles are claiming that the aim of the initiative is to eliminate Kurdish politics. In a previous interview with Today’s Zaman, Selahhatin Demirtaş, the parliamentary group chairman of the defunct DTP, when questioned about why the DTP was refraining from acting like a party in the process, he said that it would be easier for the DTP to take responsibility during the democratization process if the government had sent the message that “it is taking steps for the sake of the people and the elimination of violence, not only for the elimination of 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 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 had said then.

During the press conference, Atalay said that they are against party closures and they said this at every opportunity. He confirmed that after the closure of the DTP he met with Ahmet Türk, the chairman of the DTP who was banned from politics by the Constitutional Court. “Political parties are indispensable. We are ready for amendments in the Constitution and in the Political Parties Law to make closures difficult but it should be done in Parliament with agreement,” he said.

He reiterated that they were planning to establish independent bodies to promote and ensure human rights. The draft bill is almost ready and will be submitted to Parliament after the budget.