General staff apologizes to BDP for language use on report of soldier stabbed in southeastern Turkey

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The Turkish general staff apologized to the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) after the report on the stabbed soldier in Cizre was released, BDP’s Şırnak deputy Hasip Kaplan said. DAILY NEWS photo

The Turkish general staff apologized to the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) after publishing a report on Oct. 30 about a soldier allegedly stabbed by militants connected to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern town of Cizre, in the Şırnak province. 
 
“[The general staff] notified us that they would remove and correct the report. We have been members of Parliament since 2007 and it is the first time we held a telephone conversation with them,” BDP’s Şırnak deputy Hasip Kaplan said.
 
The report on the general staff’s website said the soldier was stabbed “near the headquarters of a party sponsoring the separatist terrorist organization,” referring to the BDP and PKK. 
 
“[Adopting] the right approach that can solve mistakes and misunderstandings is very important, especially during the resolution process. They should adopt an approach that does not obstruct the process, but on the contrary eases it,” Kaplan said, thanking the General Staff’s General Secretary Metin Özbek for personally apologizing for using such expressions in the report. 
 
Kaplan also added the BDP was expecting a similar dialogue from the government.
 
The soldier, whose identity was not disclosed, was attacked by members of the Patriotic and Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the so-called youth and public order organization of the PKK. The attack occurred while he was walking near the BDP building in Cizre, after the soldier refused to answer to the group’s members asking him to come by.