CHP calls for panel on Kurdish problem

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called yesterday for the creation of a cross-party parliamentary commission to work on a settlement to the Kurdish conflict after the prime minister slammed him for having no concrete proposal on the issue.

Kılıçdaroğlu said the panel should be based on the model of Parliament’s incumbent constitution-making commission, which is in intensive contact with civic society and where all four parties are equally represented. He was responding to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has several times challenged the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader to explain what he means by “social consensus” on the Kurdish conflict.

“The work of the constitution-making commission is an example of social consensus. So why don’t we set up a commission in Parliament also on the issue of terror?” Kılıçdaroğlu said at a gathering of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). He made the remarks after Erdoğan challenged him again in a speech at the same meeting, but the prime minister had left by the time the CHP leader took the floor.

Kılıçdaroğlu said the proposed panel should be backed up by another commission, to be set up outside Parliament with the participation of “wise men” representing political parties, opinion leaders and academics, hinting that the second body could engage in contacts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“They could hold talks with anybody in any circumstances. They could go abroad, too. They could hold talks inside Turkey as well,” he said. “We are not a party that advocates negotiations with terrorists. All political parties must commit themselves to a solution and stick to the negotiating table.”