MESOP: CEMIL BAYIK DENIES WHAT HE DEMIRTAS HAS ORDERED / PKK denies call by Demirtas to lay down arms

A senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has responded to calls from the co-chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, to halt violence.Speaking to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-Chair Cemil Bayik said there could be no “one-sided” moves to down arms after its previous experiences, Hurriyet daily reported.

“He [Demirtas] was not the only one to make the call [to silence arms]. We also find it valuable. From our point of view, neither Turkey nor we can solve this problem with arms. But we have called for a one-sided ceasefire eight times. During the last one, we even began to withdraw our forces. Turkey first delayed everything and then denied it. So there will be no more one-sided calls to silence arms,” said Bayik after recent remarks by Demirtas. Demirtas had on Aug. 23 called on the PKK to halt a month of violence against security forces “without ifs or buts.” “The PKK must stop its armed attacks and bombings in towns and the mountains, without ifs or buts,” he said.