CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu in ‘peace’ meet

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP chair Kılıçdaroğlu (R) leaves an Istanbul meeting on the peace initiatives. DHA photo

Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu attended an Istanbul meeting on May 24 focusing on the steps needed to be taken to resolve the Kurdish issue, in a move to further deepen his party’s role in the ongoing efforts.

The meeting came as a continuation of a previous “Democracy of Freedom for Peace” declaration, endorsed by various social and political figures, academics and journalists along with Kılıçdaroğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Canan Kaftancıoğlu. The declaration has previously included 111 democrats, including CHP deputies, and later on was targeted by seven hardliner CHP deputies, who released a statement branding the attempt as voicing support for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

However, the declaration and a parallel petition campaign were made in the knowledge of the party leader. Co-chair of Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), Alper Taş, also attended the event, where participants studied the political, legal and social aspects of the Kurdish issue.

Kılıçdaroğlu delivered peace messages in a separate Istanbul meeting later in the day. “We will live in peace on this soil. This is our goal and idea,” he said while addressing citizens in an event that gathered citizens from the Black Sea province of Ordu.