MESOP FOCUS – PKK & ERDOGAN : Concrete steps will soon be taken in peace talks: Kurdish lawyer tells Kurdpress

8.6.2014 – KURDPRESS / MESOP – A member of the Wise Men Ankara appointed to explain peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to people believes government will soon take concrete steps in the negotiations and both sides believe the negotiations have entered into a new phase.Wahab Coskun, also a Kurdish lawyer, told Kurdpress in an exclusive interview that the peace talks need planning and a timeline and the recent conference by the government in southeastern province of Diyarbakir was an attempt in this regard.

He added the conference proved Ankara is still serious in the negotiations and Turkey Deputy PM Besir Atalay and Interior Minister Afghan Alla’s participation was significantly important in this regard. “Both of them addressed the conference and stressed clearly that the talks would continue and government is planning a road map for the talks.”

Answering the question why pro-Kurdish parties of the BDP and HDP had not been invited to the gathering, Coskun said no party had been invited to participate in the conference but personal invitation had been sent for high-level members of the two parties and they attended. He further denied Atalay remarks that Ankara is seeking legal action in the talks were tactics to win Kurdish votes for the upcoming presidential polls, stating that he thinks Ankara is mulling legal attempts and a road map in the talks.

The lawyer further advised Kurds in the state to nominate a politician for the presidential elections that can secure at least 6.5 percents of the votes as they did in the recent municipality polls in March 30 this year, continuing that the BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and former Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir are good option and can win some 7 percent of votes.

Calling vague the democratic autonomy structure the HDP and the BDP are to run in the Kurdish regions, he went on to say that Turkey political structure is center-oriented and governmental officials believe giving more authorities to Kurds means they will quit the state. “I believe Turkey will make changes in its structure to solve the Kurdish problem but it takes time and depends on political developments and no one can predict what will be the final structure for the Kurdish regions,” he continued.