Speaking to reporters during his visit to Pakistan, Erdoğan reiterated his call on the BDP to sit in on negotiations with the government to solve Turkey’s terrorism issue as well as the Kurdish issue. “As long as the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK does not lay down its arms, the fight against terrorism will not end,” he said, adding that the issue of the BDP being an interlocutor for the PKK should not be ignored.
“The relationship [between the government and the BDP] still exists, even if it is maintained by a thread. We don’t know how [future] conditions might change [this relationship]; but as long as the BDP is sincere, we can sit and talk,” he said.
Responding to Erdoğan’s call after the BDP’s group meeting, BDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş said that although there seemed to be a problem with the government’s sincerity due to the number of detentions and arrests of Kurds being carried out, the party’s door would be open to the government.
