Bayık: the Turkish government has until spring

ANF – Behdinan 04.12.2013 – KCK Co-chair Bayık states that they have given the government until spring, and that in order to galvanise the process letters have been sent to Öcalan and Erdoğan.

We are allowing them until spring

KCK Co-chair Cemil Bayık answered questions put to him by Necip Çapraz from Yüksekova Haber. Bayık drew attention to the fact that the AKP government had not responded to KCK President Öcalan’s demands for proper negotiations, and instead of taking steps towards this was trying to produce arguments to justify its stance. Bayık added that the AKP’s mentality was not one of resolution, adding: “It can’t openly reject it and tries to portray itself as in favour of a resolution. It apparently says, ‘we have come to an agreement with Apo, and we will implement it bit by bit in the future.’ Everyone, our people, all patriots, democrats, progressives and socialists, should definitely be aware that this is a lie machine, pure and simple. There is no question of an agreement having been made with leader Apo. The AKP has demolished the steps that leader Apo has unilaterally developed. It has not progressed to the negotiation stage and has ignored all the steps we have taken.”

We will not permit deceit

Bayık reiterated that the three conditions they had put forward were still valid, adding: “We have given them until spring. If by spring they accept these conditions and take steps towards negotiation then the question will progress on the path to resolution. Otherwise it will not be possible for us to continue to run things in this way. We will not permit such deception, and not allow anyone to deceive us.”

Such a situation has never been seen before

Bayık pointed out that Öcalan was bravely endeavouring to fulfil his responsibilities under the most difficult of conditions, adding: “Prisoners have been released, a ceasefire has been implemented and guerrillas have withdrawn to South Kurdistan. No party to conflict in the world has ever implemented these steps without negotiations overseen by a third party with matters put into writing and signed. We have taken all these steps unilaterally. This demonstrates how determined we are to achieve a resolution, and that we are insisting on a democratic, political resolution of the Kurdish question. It also shows how confident we are in ourselves and how sincere we are.”