CHP sought contact for peace process: Turkish PM

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has demanded to establish a communication channel with the government to get involved in the peace process, the prime minister has revealed.

“We have received a proposal [from the main opposition]. ‘Let’s each of us charge one contact person and establish communication,’ they told us,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late March 19 before his departure to Denmark.

Erdoğan said he instructed Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay, who contacted his counterpart at the CHP, to establish this communication line. “They held one conversation. And then Mr. Beşir’s counterpart told him that he will respond [after consulting with his leader.] We have not heard from him since then,” Erdoğan said.

Although the prime minister did not detail when or with whom this conversation took place, the Hürriyet Daily News has found that Atalay met with Deputy Leader of the CHP Faruk Loğoğlu last week. Sources told the Daily News that Atalay provided Loğoğlu with insufficient information that was already publicly known. Loğoğlu informed his leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and they have decided not to continue talks with Atalay as the meeting was not a productive one.

Officials from the CHP and the government met last year upon the initiative of the main opposition party, which sought the establishment of a parliamentary commission to deal with the Kurdish issue and terror problem. As the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) refused to join the commission, the CHP’s initiative failed. In return, the government offered the CHP an opportunity to work together as both parties’ votes were representing three-fourths of the country.