‘No actor can be ignored’ in resolving the Kurdish question, says HDP’s Sancar

* Photo: HDP Press

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar has welcomed the recent statement of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who has said that "the Kurdish question can be resolved with the HDP as a legitimate body."

Finding his remarks about the resolution of the Kurdish question and the HDP "positive", Mithat Sancar has said, "If we want permanent peace, there is a need for a vast social consensus and legitimacy. The place of resolution is the Parliament; no actor can be ignored."

Sancar has spoken to Deniz Nazlım and Berivan Altan from the Mezopotamya Agency (MA). Commenting on the recent debates on "who the interlocutor is in resolving the Kurdish question", which was sparked following the statement of Kılıçdaroğlu, Sancar has briefly said:

There are also other actors in the resolution of the Kurdish question. It is not a realistic approach to develop a holistic method by ignoring these actors. As a matter of fact, Turkey experienced this situation in 2009 and between 2013 and 2015.

Referring to Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who is held in İmralı Prison, Sancar has said:

"In my opinion, the debate on the role of İmralı is an issue that should have been long put behind. İmralı will have a role in this issue as well. And this role had already been put into effect in the past."

Sancar has noted, "Bringing the role of İmralı and that of the HDP up against each other is now making it harder to have a holistic approach to the Kurdish question," briefly adding the following:

In fact, it rules out the opportunities to develop a holistic approach to the Kurdish question to a great extent. The HDP is - of course - ready to use its role as a political actor and its social power in both being an interlocutor and resolution to the end.

What happened?

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu talked about the Kurdish question in the first part of documentary filmmaker Günel Cantak's "Mr. Kemal and His Alliances" documentary.

Main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu said that at the elections in Turkey in 2015, he supported the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) entering the Parliament. Commenting on the Kurdish question, he said:

"There is a Kurdish question that the institution of politics has been unable to solve for 35-40 years. We need a legitimate body to resolve the Kurdish question. The institution that we call the state does not address an illegitimate body. Erdoğan did this. The state was limited to addressing İmralı (where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party / PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan is held). For instance, İmralı is not a legitimate body.

"Who is the legitimate body? We can see the HDP as a legitimate body. It had the people's support. It came to the Parliament; therefore, it is inside the Parliament and doing its duty. If this question is to be resolved, we can do it with a legitimate body, with the HDP. For this reason, I think that the HDP must be at the Parliament."

Commenting on Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's remarks, former HDP Co-Chair Sezai Temelli said that "the place and interlocutor to resolve [the Kurdish question] is İmralı", where Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been held.

Behind bars for nearly five years, former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said, "The HDP that I know aspires to resolve all problems of Turkey, including the Kurdish question; it is a political actor of its own will and it is - of course - an interlocutor. The place where it is to be resolved is naturally the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM)."

Answering the questions of Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş, Temelli has said, "The opinions in that tweet were - of course - my personal opinions. They - of course - do not bind the party. Our authorized bodies - of course - make the binding statements on behalf of the HDP. (DŞ/SD)