BDP unsatisfied, finds package insufficient

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Gültan Kışanak, co-chairperson of the Peace and Democracy Party expressed their disappointment with regard to the democratization package Sept 30. AA photo

The opposition parties, particularly the Kurdish political groups, expressed their disappointment with regard to the democratization package underlining that it wouldn’t address Turkey’s needs for democratization and demands outlined in the context of the Kurdish resolution process.

“The Kurds wished for the solving of the Kurdish problem, the solving of the belief difficulties of the Alevis, and the allowing of all those alienated in the country to contribute to its rule. We have been struggling for years for this. We wish to clearly state that this package has not met any of these wishes. This is not a package that addresses Turkey’s need for democratization,” Gültan Kışanak, co-chairperson of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) told reporters Sept.30. “Was this a package worth waiting for? All of Turkey saw,” she added.

The BDP will continue to make its assessments with regard to the package and will make further statements on the fate of the ongoing resolution process. As Kışanak put it directly, a number of crucial demands form the BDP as part of the Kurdish resolution process had not been addressed by the package.

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, a BDP parliamentarian for Mersin, criticized Erdoğan’s “Democratisation Package” by noting that it had not met Kurds’ basic expectations. Kürkçü stressed that the package would not help the “peace process” in any way and when it came to the suggestions for a new electoral system “was an attempt to jail the BDP in a specific region.”

“The Kurdish people have some basic expectation: the changing of the Party and Election laws, the lifting of the electoral threshold, and equal representation through the use of local parliaments. There is nothing in the package that looks like a step toward the implementation of local governance,” he added.

Kılıçdaroğlu not content

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was also not content with the package but a comprehensive evaluation was set to be made by the party leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu today. Kılıçdaroğlu is to analyze the 11-year record of the government in the fields of democracy and human rights.

Akif Hamzaçebi, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CHP, said the package was very weak and a long way from meeting the democratic needs and expectations of the people. Deputy leader of the CHP, Gürsel Tekin, said the only item he liked was the one bringing in measures against hate crimes and anti-discrimination. “It seems Mr. Prime Minister did not recognize it but this article is prepared just for him. The one about alienation. Because it is the prime minister who is creating the most alienation,” Tekin said.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli will evaluate the package during his party’s parliamentary group meeting, just hours before the Parliament begins its new legislative year.