Two party assembly members resign, press officer fired for leak, BDP says

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish daily Milliyet published the alleged talks of Öcalan two days after the “second meeting” on İmralı Island as part of the ongoing peace process to end three-decade-long conflict in the country between PKK and the Turkish Armed Forces. DHA PHoto

Two members of the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) party assembly have resigned while a press officer has been dismissed following the leakage of the content of talks with the head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the party said today.

M. Rauf Kocaman and Resul Baykara, both members of the BDP party assembly, resigned from their posts in self-criticism over the responsibility for the leaking of documents, the party said in a statement to the Hürriyet Daily News. At the same time, press officer Ali Özgüç was dismissed from his post for sharing the contents of the talks without first notifying the party.

Kocaman and Baykara took copies of the documents for themselves despite a party decision not to do so, the statement added.

Özgüç reportedly allowed journalist Alper Atalay to take a picture of the documents, after which the picture found its way into the hands of daily Milliyet, which ran a story about the content of the Feb. 23 talks between Öcalan and three BDP deputies.

The BDP also apologized to Öcalan, the public and the institutions named in the documents, saying the contents of the meeting with the PKK leader were not supposed to be published. The party also condemned those who intentionally targeted the party by spreading misinformation on the issue.