Mena watch:Pro-Kurdish HDP welcomes inclusion by main opposition in Kurdish problem solution / Turkey

Ahval 25.9.2021

The co-chairman of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Tuesday said he viewed positively recent remarks by main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçcdaroğlu, saying the HDP should play a key role in finding a solution to Turkey’s Kurdish problem.

There is should be no discussion in Turkey about the role of the HDP as a legitimate political actor,  T24 news site cited Mithat Sancar as saying, adding that Turkish Parliament was the address for the solution of the decades-old Kurdish problem.

Turkey since 1984 has been locked in a struggle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey. The group is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. Over 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the conflict that has spilled across Turkish borders.

“If the priority is a political solution, then we believe the main address for it should be the Turkish Grand Assembly,’’ the HDP co-chairman said. “As such, all actors of the Kurdish problem should be included.’’

The HDP, Turkey’s second-largest opposition party, is accused of being a centre of activity for the outlawed PKK, a charge the group denies. The party is currently facing a closure case over terror links amid a years-long government crackdown on the party. Several of the HDP’s leading figures, including former co-chair and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş are currently imprisoned on terrorism charges.

The HDP should be recognised as a ‘’legitimate addressee’’ in Turkey’s Kurdish problem, Karar newspaper cited Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as saying on Sunday.

”Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks could create a positive effect on account of reviving a discussion that should have been left behind, but has been suppressed for some time,’’ Sancar said.