Erdoğan should let Öcalan speak rather than speaking on his behalf, says Demirtaş

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Jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş has responded to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's claim that there is a rift between him and Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"Frankly, it is very odd for a president to make such a statement. But when the person in question is Erdoğan, I don't find it odd," Demirtaş told Yeni Yaşam newspaper in an interview published today (January 20).

"However, I can say that there is definitely an ulterior motive, a bad intention," said Demirtaş. "Another purpose is to create confusion among the Kurds, which is also wrong."

Erdoğan's statements shouldn't be taken seriously, he added.

At his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) parliamentary group meeting on January 12, the president said, "The one in Edirne will be called to account by the one in İmralı," referring to the prisons where Demirtaş and Öcalan are held.

"It is thought that it is a bed of roses. It is not. They have accounts to settle internally. And there will be a showdown," Erdoğan asserted.

Quoting anonymous AKP officials, Deutsche Welle Turkish reported that Erdoğan's claims were probably based on intelligence reports.

Responding to the president on his Twitter account a couple of days later, Demirtaş said, "Politicians give an account to the people, to their parties, to the parliament and to the independent judiciary. Stop 'worrying' about me and this of the account you will give."

The confinement of Öcalan

In the interview with Yeni Yaşam, Demirtaş also pointed out that Erdoğan "spoke on behalf of Öcalan" while keeping him in "isolation."

"The real question regarding Erdoğan's statement is: How do you know what Mr. Öcalan, whom you have kept in isolation for years, said? Then lift the isolation, let Öcalan meet with his lawyers and his family regularly, let's find out together what he has to say.

"It is not moral to both implement a heavy isolation and speak on behalf of Öcalan as the president."

In prison for over 20 years, Öcalan has been rarely allowed to meet with his family members and lawyers over the past few years.

If Erdoğan has intentions to resume meetings with Öcalan, which were stopped after the end of the "resolution process" to the Kurdish question in 2015, doing this with a polarizing discourse would be "wrong and dangerous," Demirtaş noted.

"In principle, we support any sincere initiative for peace. No one would and should oppose such an initiative," he said.

"I think there should be meetings at İmralı [Prison]. Because there are topics that cannot be solved without the involvement of Öcalan. Nevertheless, as both I and the HDP have stated, the ultimate address of the solution is the parliament," Demirtaş further explained. (TP/VK)