HDP’s Demirtaş says neither crisis nor significant progress in peace process

ANKARA

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Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chairman Selahattin Demirtaş has described the Kurdish peace process as at neither an impasse nor a breakthrough, saying a meeting between the government and a HDP delegation would soon happen. 

The HDP delegation will meet with the government on Feb. 8, after which he will make a statement, Demirtaş told reporters on Feb. 6.

“We are trying to find a consensus. Any statement made before listening to the government’s approach about talks at İmralı [prison] will be shortcutting and unilateral,” he said, adding that he cannot say there is a “serious crisis” or “significant progress” concerning the peace process to solve the three-decade-long Kurdish question.

İmrali Island hosts the prison where Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is serving a life sentence. It is used as a byword to refer to Öcalan.

Demirtaş underlined that no one should expect the upcoming statements to lead to “important developments,” as the talks are simply “routine.”

He ruled out that the government’s controversial new “security package” had been postponed due to talks with Öcalan. 

“This was not on the agenda there [İmralı]. The government evaluated the pros and cons of the package. It might not take the risk of making the parliament occupied for months. The public reaction might have played a role too,” Demirtaş said.

He also said the HDP had held talks with a number of left-wing parties and would make a decision after holding a second round of discussions.

“Neither the [Republican People’s Party] CHP nor the [Democratic Left Party] DSP have requested talks with us. They do not need to either,” Demirtaş said, implying that the CHP is not a left-wing party.

He also stated that the HDP would not seek “unity or a common struggle” with the CHP.