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We asked Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı, who was removed from his post as the Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality by the Ministry of Interior, about the protests of the families in front of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır Provincial Chairpersonship:
"There is a point of view of those who are wounded beyond politics with the conscience of his heart," said Mızraklı.
"Now there is no doubt that the families there are those who most intensely experienced the destruction of this process. They are all victims of this process. They are looking from a point where they feel the most painful of these troubles. I understand them very well.
"They also previously expressed their troubles. We need to look at this from a broader perspective, not from the approaches of our political entities. First of all, it is necessary to put aside the conflict in the language and then materialize non-conflict. It is necessary to create and catch hands that will reach out to peace.
"It's necessary to read the reaction through here: This conflict period hurt us the most and it will create more people like us. As such, we cannot think of these mothers as just the mothers in front of the HDP.
"There are thousands of mothers who are waiting for their sons. There are the Saturday Mothers, there are the Peace Mothers. Whether her son is on the mountain, is a police officer or is in prison. The only thing that will cure them all is the analytic attitude of politics. The only condition in which we can reduce the anxiety of mothers is non-conflict. Mothers will relax only when there is a peaceful environment.
"HDP is not a station for bringing people to the mountains. The HDP does not have a confrontational mentality but is a party that is committed to peaceful coexistence. Establishing integrity between the HDP and the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] can go as far as closing the HDP. Families should not be instrumentalized for this.
"This is also a disease, a problematic situation. There is an understanding that marginalizes the HDP, an approach that marginalizes the efforts of a democratic solution. You have to pay attention to this matter. " (EMK/VK)
