Sakık reiterates terrorist candidate allegation against CHP

The CHP had alleged that Atalay pressured judges not to arrest a group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists who surrendered to Turkish security forces at the Habur border gate last October. The CHP filed a censure motion on Thursday, which was rejected by Parliament after fiery discussions, with 146 voting in favor and 310 against.

During Thursday's debates, BDP deputy Sakık stated that the CHP had asked the now-defunct People's Democracy Party (HADEP), one of the many predecessors of the BDP, to enlist 20 PKK militants as candidates for the position of deputy in the general elections of 1999.

Sakık’s remarks fueled a heated debate between the BDP and the CHP in Parliament. CHP Deputy Chairman Mustafa Özyürek denied Sakık’s revelation, saying his party had never worked in cooperation with anyone who refused to publicly denounce the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman after the discussions, Sakık reiterated his earlier words, saying, “Baykal, who is now afraid to even shake hands with us, used to run after us in the past.”

Although the CHP has denied this, Özyürek said during the debate, “You weren’t together with the terrorist group then; now you are on their side,” addressing Sakık, implicitly confirming that the CHP did make a request in 1999.

A group of 34 people affiliated with the outlawed PKK surrendered in October of last year at the Habur border gate, on the Turkish-Iraqi border, as the Turkish government was preparing to unveil measures to broaden the democratic rights and freedoms of the country’s citizens. Eight of the group’s members came from the Kandil Mountains, where the PKK maintains a camp. The rest came from Makhmour, a refugee camp in northern Iraq. None were arrested. Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), which has since been shut down, leader Ahmet Türk and Atalay had come together in Ankara before the repatriation. The CHP has accused the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of having struck a secret deal. Sakık told Today’s Zaman that the meeting was not a secret. “We were escorted to eat with Mr. Minister by the police. Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker and I also participated in the meeting. We had lunch in complete view of the public. There was nothing secret about the meeting,” he said.

No negotiating took place

Sakık said there were no negotiations regarding the returnees during the meeting between DTP members and Altay. He said: “Mr. Türk requested that the security forces act with sensibility during the returns and expressed our readiness as a part of it to do all we could to prevent any incidents from occurring. We said we were ready to support the government’s step. Not a word was said about their interrogations or trials. We said we were ready to do whatever we could to ensure domestic peace in the country.”

Sakık said negotiations had taken place, not with the government but with Baykal. He said he was offended by Baykal’s attempts to maintain a distance between his party and the DTP, which entered Parliament with the July 22, 2007 general elections, and its successor, the BDP. “We were in politics in the same leftist groups with Baykal in the past. We have a history of camaraderie. But since we entered Parliament, he hasn’t dared to shake hands with me or with Ahmet Türk. He has been afraid to speak with us. It looks like speaking to Kurds has lost its appeal to him. He looks down on us. This attitude of his offends me; that’s why I had to make that statement during the censure motion talks.”

No problem with Kurds before

Sakık said one of the negotiations he had with Baykal in 1999 occurred during a meeting at Ankara’s Willy Brandt Avenue house number 7/1. He said the CHP deputy chairmen at the time, Eşref Erdem and Mehmet Ali Eren, also participated in that meeting.

“They said they could form an election alliance with us. However, they said they did not want to include people who were members of the People’s Democracy Party [HADEP] and the Democracy Party [DEP] who had been tried. They said they couldn’t handle having Sedat Yurttaş or Murat Bozlağ as candidates. But they said send us 20 militants, people who are unknown; we can put them on our list. We told them we can’t accept such a proposal. We told them we are the leading members of the party and have nothing to hide. We said it was impossible for a party that can’t handle having such names on their list to democratize Turkey. Another meeting took place in Eşref Erdem’s house, but there was no alliance because we couldn’t agree on the terms.”

He said it was clear ahead of the 1999 elections that the Democratic Left Party (DSP) was way ahead of the CHP. When Baykal understood that his party would not be able to pass the 10 percent election threshold for parliamentary representation, he made quite an effort to get into Parliament but failed.

Sakık said also in 1990, Baykal, who was campaigning against Erdal İnönü in the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP), asked Türk and İsmail Hakki Önel to act on his side or threatened to take them to the party’s disciplinary board for participating in a Kurdish conference in Paris. “At the time the CHP group deputy chairman, Kemal Anadol, was also on our side. Now he’s afraid to even say hello.”

He also stated that the struggle inside the SHP was between İnönü and Baykal. “Baykal caused great damage both to the CHP and the SHP by causing polarization in the party. He moved the SHP from its real left-wing line. He eliminated İnönü after expelling us. Then he eliminated the Alevis. And then he reopened the CHP and had his own rose garden with no thorns. Mr. Baykal is the number one reason why leftist parties in Turkey today stand as a major obstacle in the way of change,” he said.