Peace bid in deadlock, BDP warns

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The peace process, an initiative launched by the Turkish government to find a solution to the country’s lingering Kurdish problem, is facing a risk of deadlock, according to the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which takes active role in the process.

 “I have a call for all peace lovers. The government is about to lock the process,” the BDP’S co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said on June 18 while addressing his party’s parliamentary group.

Commenting on the ruling Justice and Development Party’s public meetings Ankara and Istanbul over the weekend, Demirtaş said: “The same number of people that gathered at your meeting venue is jailed in this country. Aren’t you ashamed of this?”

Recalling the prime minister’s remarks that he would settle accounts in elections, Demirtaş said, “First you lift the threshold, then we will face off at the elections.”

The BDP, whose vote total is below the 10 percent threshold, supports independent candidates in elections to bypass the obstacle.