AMED - DEM Party Vice Co-chair Özlem Gündüz stated that the Kurdish political parties they met within the scope of the "Meetings for Peace and Democratic Society Call" wanted to meet Abdullah Öcalan with a delegation.

 

A delegation consisting of Tuncer Bakırhan, Co-Chair of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, Mehmet Kamaç and Gülcan Kaçmaz Sayyiğit, Co-Speakers of the Democratic Unity Initiative, and Özlem Gündüz, Vice Co-Chair of the DEM Party, visited political parties in Amed (Diyarbakır) yesterday as part of the "Meetings for Peace and Democratic Society Call". 

 

Delegation visited Human and Freedom Party (Partiya İnsan û Azadiyê-PIA), Revolutionary Democratic Culture Association (DDKD), Kurdistan Communist Party (KKP), Azadî (Freedom) Party, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistan (PDK-Turkey), Socialist Kurdistan Party (Partiya Sosyalist a Kurdistan-PSK).

 

Özlem Gündüz said that Kurdish National Unity came to the fore during the visits. She stated that they held the meetings in line with Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society", and that they discussed the call not only with the parties that have a group in the Parliament, but also with all leftist and socialist sections, labour and professional organisations and public meetings. 

 

She underlined that their discussions are carried out with the content of information, opinions, suggestions and the course of the process. "We are carrying out these meetings in such a way that there is no segment we do not go to," she said. 

 

Özlem Gündüz said that during the visits, the view that Kurdish national unity is important not only in Turkey and Kurdistan but also in the Middle East and that it has a decisive role in the process came to the fore, and that the opening of the democratic political space is an opportunity in front of political unity, and that discussions and views on how to transform this with a strong struggle were discussed.

 

'PARTIES WILL DO THEIR PART FOR UNITY AND PROCESS'

 

Stating that the talks were positive, Özlem Gündüz added that the parties they met emphasised the importance of unity: "They expressed that they are ready to do every duty and responsibility that falls on them in terms of the process and the unity of the Kurds. Of course there is a state of waiting. There are questions as to how the process will evolve. In particular, we had productive talks about whether concrete steps will be taken on the basis of equal citizenship of Kurds in general, the existing situation of local governments, the mother tongue problem, and if there is a negotiation, how we can carry out and accelerate it with struggle. Of course, we have done these before, but we also talked about how we will carry them out more periodically and more frequently. In general, it was positive and good".

 

She emphasised that a state of waiting from the government wing was frequently expressed by the participants: “At this point, there is a consensus that we should all work together in the field of democratic politics in a stronger, organised way to voice these concrete demands and develop a method of struggle based on these concrete demands. They also stated that they will support any concrete steps that will lead to the success of the struggle and the Kurds' gains and that they are already struggling for this."

 

'KURDISH PARTIES WANT TO MEET WITH MR OCALAN'

 

Özlem Gündüz said that there were also suggestions and criticisms from the Kurdish political parties: "As you know, Mr Öcalan had stated that he wanted to meet with Kurdish leaders such as Talabani and Barzani. In the same way, we can also state that it would be good for a delegation to be formed from here to meet with Mr Öcalan, and that Kurdish institutions and parties would like to have a one-to-one discussion with Mr Öcalan about the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. We said that we would also convey these suggestions. It would also be good for them if the way and channels for this are opened. Mr Öcalan also had such a demand in general.”

 

Underlining that these contacts will continue, Özlem Gündüz concluded: "There are parties that are missing. We will also visit them in the near future and we will periodically come together regularly from now on."

 

MA / Müjdat Can