CHP supports withdrawal, but wants more information

TEKİRDAĞ / ANKARA

Kılıçdaroğlu says he has concerns about whether the PM wants democracy or not. AA photo

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said his party would be pleased with the withdrawal of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants from Turkish soil, but has again refused to support the government’s ongoing process. 

“Nobody wants terrorists in the country,” said Kılıçdaroğlu upon a question during his visit to the western city of Tekirdağ yesterday, according to Anatolia news agency. 

He said the question of whether the retreat would happen must be asked to the prime minister, as he is “party to the negotiations” with the PKK, adding that the CHP could not support a process it was not informed about. 

“The prime minister says that the PKK will abandon arms and leave Turkey and that no bargain is done. Fine. What do you [the government] want from us? To enter the process. Why would we enter a process we do not know about,” Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters yesterday.

10 key questions

“I have concerns about whether the prime minister wants democracy in this country. If you limit the media’s freedom then you limit the freedom of information,” he added. 

Meanwhile, the CHP has announced that it is on the verge of completing an “approach document,” justifying its refusal to participate in the “peace process.” The CHP will declare its point of view on the subject by answering 10 key questions. The answers will formulate the standpoint of the CHP on issues including the “Wise Persons” commission, why the CHP did not assign any members to the parliamentary investigation commission intended to monitor the process, and whether the CHP supports the peace process.

This came a day after the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder announced that the withdrawal of PKK militants would start today, following a public statement by the PKK’s leaders in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq.

“On April 25 the withdrawal will be ready to start,” Önder said on April 23. Responding to questions from reporters at the public reception organized for the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day celebrations, Önder said the process was proceeding without any troubles, daily Hürriyet reported, adding that the correspondence between the PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan and the headquarters in the Kandil Mountains was now over. “Now the talks will continue through the BDP [deputies],” he said. 

President Abdullah Gül called on “every party” involved in the talks to be constructive. “The process should absolutely be successful. What’s important is the laying down of arms inside and outside Turkey. Everybody has to be patient,” Gül said.