Security bill endangers Kurdish bid, KCK says

AA Photo.

The government’s insistence on a controversial security bill will put the Kurdish peace process in danger, the Kurdistan Communities’ Union (KCK) said in a statement on Feb. 15, describing its content as an indication of authoritarianism that does not comply with the objective of democratizing Turkey.
 
The KCK’s statement, a supra-organization that includes the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), came after a Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) delegation briefed senior PKK officials over intensified dialogue between the government and the HDP over a joint communiqué expected to be released within days.

The statement that would put an end to armed struggle of the PKK would follow a joint declaration between the government and the HDP to outline the launch of substantive negotiations between the parties.

However, like senior HDP officials, the KCK also underlined its opposition to the government’s ambition to pass the security bill.


“As stated by [PKK leader Abdullah] Öcalan, for us, the spirit of the resolution process is the perspective of democratization of the state and the people. However, all of the AKP’s [Justice and Development Party] actions contradict with the democratization of the state and the people. The last example of this is the Homeland Security Package that aims to intimidate the entire social opposition,” a statement said on Feb. 15. 

Noting that the legislation of the package would jeopardize the resolution process, the statement said the mentality of the package reflected the government’s unwillingness to launch negotiations.

“It’s been underlined that this mentality will bring about more authoritarianism instead of democratization and is unacceptable,” it said, calling on the government once again to opt for the entire democratization of the country through legal action that would work for the democratic future of all communities in the country.

Dissatisfaction over gov’t steps

Although expectations are high for the announcement of the communiqué in a few days, the KCK officials reiterated their dissatisfaction with the government’s hesitancy in not proceeding with the negotiations. Blaming the government for disseminating unrealistic expectations among the public and therefore wasting time even though Öcalan set Feb. 15 as the date to agree on the text for a joint communiqué, the statement accused the government of exerting efforts to nix Öcalan’s plan.