AKP pressures CHP for a two-party consensus

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu addresses his lawmakers during the CHP’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pressed the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to respond to his proposal of launching a process for the solution of the Kurdish question together.

“This initiative of the CHP flourished hopes among the society,” he said, adding that breaking these hopes would be harmful.

“If the [Nationalist Movement Party] MHP and the [Peace and Democracy Party] BDP exclude themselves from such an initiative, why don’t we go our own way? Societal consensus does not mean the agreement of 100 percent. 75 percent [the combined votes of the ruling and main opposition party] perfectly represents a social consensus,” Erdoğan said yesterday at his party’s parliamentary group meeting.

Erdoğan was commenting once again on the CHP’s proposals to establish a joint parliamentary commission, along with a “wise people” commission, to discuss possible solution methods for the Kurdish issue. He had previously suggested that Kılıçdaroğlu set a mechanism consisting only of representatives of their two parties, if the MHP and the BDP objected to the CHP proposal.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli described the move as “treason” and said he would not even visit the CHP for tea. “Apparently, the AKP the CHP and the BDP have all agreed to the demands of the [outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party] PKK. For us, the CHP’s proposal of a Societal Conciliation Commission means pitting the PKK against the Parliament,” Bahçeli said.

Describing the CHP proposal as a “coalition of destruction,” Bahçeli said they would reject any request for a meeting with the CHP on this issue under any condition.

Bahçeli also responded to Erdoğan’s accusations that he was “keeping watch in front of the mortuary,” saying that the MHP would continue to wait in front of the mortuary, but would never contribute in efforts to divide Turkey.

CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu repeated his calls for all political parties to coming together under Parliament’s roof. “If politicians do not come together and discuss the country’s vital issues, the whole of politics will lose credibility,” he said.

Appealing to Bahçeli without saying his name, Kılıçdaroğlu called on party leaders to give priority to the country’s interests, rather than party interests.

Kılıçdaroğlu also urged Erdoğan not to use offensive language against the MHP and the BDP. “Don’t say ‘You’re keeping watch in front of the mortuary.’ You should also call on [the MHP and the BDP] to join the proposed commission. We are quarrelling while our soldiers are being made into martyrs,” he said.