Turkish opposition party calls for fresh talks with PKK

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to create a delegation for fresh talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as the only way out of the stalemate on the Kurdish problem, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) “may have gained time through the policies it follows, but it has lost altitude and is about to crash,” BDP co-chair Gültan Kışanak said at the party’s parliamentary group meeting.

“They must realize that buying time will not get a solution, and they must start an honest, sincere and open process. They should openly declare it this time,” she said, referring to the earlier secret talks that were leaked to the media last year.

“They should create a delegation to solve the Kurdish issue through negotiation, and send the delegation to meet with all sides. This is the only way they can solve this problem,” Kışanak added. She used Kurdish in the opening of her speech, to mark International Mother Tongue Day.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli urged Erdoğan to re-focus on the Kurdish problem and raised the alarm that Arab Spring uprisings were setting an example for Kurdish separatists at home. “The prime minister and the government must immediately return to Turkey’s realities,” he said.