Taraf: Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chairperson Aysel Tuğluk will meet with the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, in İmralı prison about a recent decision by the PKK to declare a cease-fire in the hopes of it becoming permanent. Tuğluk, who visited İmralı five years ago, said there was no need for her to get permission from the Ministry of Justice to meet with Öcalan. “I will meet with Öcalan as his lawyer. We will discuss permanent peace,” she said. Tuğluk, along with a five-member delegation, will travel to Iraq today to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The same delegation will ask for an appointment with President Abdullah Gül after a public vote on government-sponsored reforms is held on Sept. 12, the daily said.Bugün: “The nation will lose if a no vote comes out of the referendum,” the daily said in the headline of its lead story yesterday, quoting statements from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who spoke on Kanaltürk on Thursday night. Erdoğan said if the government-sponsored reform package slated for a referendum on Sept. 12 is rejected, then Turkey will lose its battle for democracy. “If the reforms are not approved, foreign investors who are concerned about the Turkish judiciary will not come to the country,” the daily reported Erdoğan as saying.
Sabah: In its main story yesterday, the daily reported on its reporters’ impressions of Erdoğan’s visit to Diyarbakır yesterday and said that although the province insists on boycotting the referendum, a “yes” vote lies in the hearts of the locals. The daily said that when Diyarbakır residents were asked about their views on the referendum, they first noted they would boycott it, but then revealed that they are likely to vote “yes.” The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has called for a boycott of the referendum in the region.
