MHP lashes PM-Zana meeting

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The main oppositional party slammed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with independent deputy Leyla Zana, calling it disrespectful to the martyrs and a shameful move.

“It will soon be realized that this meeting will stand as an important phase in turning the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) into a more effective political actor,” said Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in a written statement.

Expectations for a solution

It was a handicap for Erdoğan to meet with Zana, Bahçeli said, recalling that she had been convicted to 10 years in prison for her membership to the terror organization.

Nationalist Movement Party leader Bahçeli argued that the demands Zana mentioned were in fact reflective of the PKK’s expectations for the solution of the Kurdish issue and added that Erdoğan and Zana’s meeting was a product of global forces’ pressure on the government.