AKP on Öcalan's Leaked Letter: 'We Would Do It in a Different Way'

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Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan delivered a letter to his attorneys in a meeting they held on June 18 at the İmralı prison, five days before the İstanbul election rerun.

But the letter was announced to the public not by the attorneys, but by Assoc. Prof. Ali Kemal Özcan, who met with Öcalan on June 20. He also accused Öcalan's lawyers of hiding the letter.

"Öcalan Called HDP (People's Democratic Party) to Stay Neutral in Elections," the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) announced the letter.

The letter actually did not include a message directly on the elections, rather, in a broader sense, called the HDP to form a "third way" between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

The HDP, which also supported the opposition candidate in the canceled vote on March 31, said its election strategy is in line with Öcalan's message, hence it will continue to support the opposition.

The announcement of the letter lead President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to claim that there is a "power struggle" between the HDP and the PKK. His ally, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli also said "Öcalan is disturbed by the HDP's malicious politics," while discussions on the letter dominated the media in the last days before the elections.

The letter did not seem to have an effect on the choice of the HDP voters as the opposition candidate İmamoğlu won the election by a landslide, how the letter that was sent to the prosecutor's office to be delivered to Öcalan's lawyers leaked remained unanswered.

What does the AKP say?

A reporter asked AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik in a press conference, "Three days before the election, an academic went to İmralı and met with Öcalan. Who requested this meeting, who allowed him to visit Öcalan and how did the letter leak after the meeting?"

The meeting was also extraordinary as Öcalan had even not been given permission to meet with his lawyers for years until May.

Çelik refused the claims that the AKP hoped to take advantage of the letter ahead of the elections, saying, "As far as I understood, the chief terrorist gave this message to this person and this has been revealed somehow."

"Of course we closely follow the dirty relations within the terrorist organization as we follow many debates in Turkey," said çelik.

He added that if they wanted to gain political advantage through the letter, they would do it in a "more quiet and different way."

Çelik also repeated Erdoğan's claims that there is a power struggle within the PKK. (AS/VK)