Sırrı Süreyya Önder: I am as Hopeful for Peace as I was in 2012

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder has spoken to journalist Kemal Göktaş in the last part of podcast series "Sırrı Süreyya Önder Tells" on Kısa Dalga (Shortwave) Podcast.

When asked whether there will be a new resolution process for the Kurdish question, Önder has indicated that "he is as hopeful as he was in 2012."

Underlining that "he does not see it in the realm of possibility that the bloc of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will initiate the peace process again", he has stated that "this issue is still proceeding on the very right track and on the necessary level of awareness." Önder has continued his remarks as follows:

'There is a fear of peace'

"The literature on conflict processes has something that I would like to share here, hoping that it will prevent us from abandoning ourselves to despair. I did quite a literature review back then. There is something called 'fear of peace'. Both the state and the conflicting party have that fear.

"When both sides come so close that they are about to extend a hand of peace, there usually occurs such significant deterioration that people think that peace will never be possible again or assume that it is a faint possibility.

"It is exactly this fear of peace. I mean, the fear caused by the thought that the habitual ways of governing, ruling and administering or the habitual practices and categories will be abandoned... In the face of this fear, the conflicting sides are triggered to take a step back at the slightest.

'AKP is on the brink of falling from power'

"The AKP is on the brink of falling from power. One does not have to be a clairvoyant to foresee that. (...) But I am not interested in that part. They say that the AKP has splitted into three camps. They can split into 13 camps as they wish. I think it should not interest us. It is no use for us.

'We have to persuade AKP voters'

"We cannot proceed on this road with a kin marriage. The left opposition in Turkey needs to hybridize. And it is closely related with how many AKP voters we can persuade. And, of course, it does not mean that we will do it by deceiving them. We will do it by expressing ourselves correctly and adequately. It should be where we pin our hopes.

"We need to shift our focal point here. It has long been debated that there is this lack in the left and it has long been accepted as a need. HDP was a micro-example of that. We are the only political party that could receive votes from outside its fringe. I mean, we increased our vote rate from 5 percent to 13 percent, which is an experience that cannot be ignored." (RT/SD)