PYD leader says would like to meet with MİT

MESOP FLASH I : THEY ARE ALL IN FAVOR OF MIT

23 May 2013 /TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL – Salih Muslim, the leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Syria, has said the PYD would very much like to meet with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) as part of the ongoing settlement process with the PKK.

Speaking to Taraf’s Amberin Zaman, Muslim refuted claims that he frequently comes to Turkey and meets with MİT, saying: “If only those claims were true. We would very much like to meet with MİT, sitting in a place in Ankara, having some tea and talking about peace. We could spend a long time discussing everything. I hope this will happen in the future, but there has not been any such meeting so far.” Muslim also said he has never met any Turkish state official either in Europe or in Arbil, northern Iraq, even after the launch of the settlement process with the PKK, which aims to resolve Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish and terrorism problems.

He said Turkey only stopped using threatening language against the PYD following the launch of the settlement process.

“Turkey is sincere about the settlement process. The government discourse has been consistent since the beginning of the process. While the guerillas were withdrawing, the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] took some action, and the positions of some soldiers in the region were changed. The release of suspects in the KCK [Kurdistan Communities Union] trial is continuing. Turkey has recognized the Kurds’ ethnic identity. The circumstances in the Middle East have already made this obligatory,” he said. With regards to claims that the PKK terrorists withdrawing from Turkey are joining the ranks of the Popular Protection Units (YPG), the military branch of PYD, he said: “There is no link between the settlement process in Turkey and the PYD. Claims about PKK guerillas coming to the west [of Syria] are lies. Not a single person has come there either from Turkey or anywhere else. … The PKK members who have withdrawn will settle in predetermined places in the north [of Iraq], like Zap and Kandil.”

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-316338-pyd-leader-says-would-like-to-meet-with-mit.html