CHP: UK says it was not in Oslo talks

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. AA photo

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the U.K. was not involved in the Oslo meetings between Turkish intelligence and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members “as the government,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Faruk Loğoğlu said yesterday.

Clegg visited CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in Ankara yesterday, and following the meeting Loğoğlu spoke to the press about the content of the discussions. He said the series of meetings between the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and representatives of the PKK, which were held in Norwegian capital Oslo between 2009 and 2011, came onto the agenda during the meeting.

During the meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu criticized the government for not sharing information about the Oslo talks with the opposition, and Clegg’s response was to state that the British government had no information as they were not present at the meetings, according to Loğoğlu.

“They said, ‘We, as the British government, were not there.’ This means they were not there as the British government, but you should guess the rest. Let’s say he does not deny it, but he is limiting [the description],” he said.

Loğoğlu also stated that preparations for the new constitution, and especially the definition of citizenship, were particular points of interest to Clegg during the meeting.