PKK gets truce call during holy month
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
AKP lawmaker Ensarioğlu is among those calling on the PKK to silence arms. DHA photo
Politicians and intellectuals who support the negotiations between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and independent Diyarbakır parliamentary deputy Leyla Zana have issued a call to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to silence arms during the holy month of Ramadan.The group includes Justice and Development Party (AKP) Diyarbakır deputy Galip Ensarioğlu, Prof. Mehmet Altan, Rights and Liberties Party (HAKPAR) leader Bayram Bozyel, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Diyarbakır deputy Altan Tan and Kurdish intellectual Orhan Miroğlu.
“Believing that people’s moral values would help the solution, we thought making such a call in Ramadan would be appropriate,” Ensarioğlu said. The group signed the declaration seeking peace not only during Ramadan, but permanently, Bozyel said. “The armed conflict does not favor the Kurds, but rather harms them,” Bozyel said, daily Yeni Şafak reported. The declaration is well-intentioned, and the PKK should silence its arms, Miroğlu said. “These attempts [at negotiation] will not yield any result as long as the PKK does not silence its arms. After arms are silenced, everything can be freely discussed. Otherwise the cease-fires after such declarations will not go far from being a threat factor,” Miroğlu said. “We want arms to be silenced not only for the month Ramadan, but for forever. The negotiations should be supported.
The harsh language on that subject should be softened. Ramadan must be an opportunity to start a period of peace and negotiations,” Tan said. In their declaration, the group calls on every segment of society to have good sense. “When you kill a human being, you kill all humanity. When you keep a human being alive, you keep all humanity alive. Arms should be silenced and people should start to speak instead,” the declaration reads.
