‘Erdoğan ended the resolution process for the Kurdish question'

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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Speaking in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Friday (July 9), President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of "ending the resolution process."

Speaking about the resolution process for the Kurdish question, Erdoğan said, "We initiated the process, but it was not us who ended it. Their ill-intentioned, malevolent and hidden agendas ended the resolution process. Those going around with their so-called political identities have never distanced themselves from violence and terrorism."

Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle, who was also a member of the delegation having talks with the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Prison during the mentioned resolution process, has responded to the President's claims about the issue.

Speaking to Özgür Paksoy from the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) for an interview published by daily Yeni Yaşam, Dicle has briefly said: 

Both the AKP and Erdoğan see that they are going through a process of meltdown. They can detect that the meltdown on the part of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is bigger.

'Perception operation'

Defining President Erdoğan's visit to Diyarbakır province as "a planned move", Hatip Dicle has said, "They are the ones who best know their problems with the Kurds. This is also a perception operation. Erdoğan's latest visit was a quest to find out how he could deceive the Kurds agaib and how he could increase the votes, at least at the next elections."

To the question "How do Kurds view Erdoğan," Dicle has said:

Kurdish people are experienced and political people who have gone through so much pain. What has happened after the İmralı process and in the last five-six years has been fresh in the memories of our people. Our people know how hostile an attitude the appointed mayors have taken against Kurdish, how the MHP is openly hostile to Kurds and how the AKP is also totally hostile to Kurds. For this reason, I don't think that these remarks will have an influence on the people. Will the Kurdish people be deceived by this or not? We will see it all together.

How did the resolution process end?

Hatip Dicle has also talked about President Erdoğan's statement of "It was not us who ended the resolution process". Dicle has said:

"Everything was recorded. For instance, what did Erdoğan say five-six years ago? He once said, 'We put it in the freezer.'

"When he told such lies as 'The Dolmabahçe Agreement was made without my knowledge', some channels put forward what he said and when he said them; so, all of these can be refuted in an instance.

If we are to talk about how the İmralı process came to an end... At the end of 2013, on December 17-25, Erdoğan's association with the Fethullah Gülen community in the form of a coalition came to an end. A big fight for power started between them.

"Erdoğan knew that they were a state clique. Taking this state clique on himself and coming down on the Ergenekon organization together with these Gülenists gave Erdoğan a pause; he did a u-turn.

"Some things were also sensed while the talks were ongoing. But it was completely revealed after some time. Forced by the Ergenekon and MHP, it was decided to completely eliminate the Fethullah Gülen community from the state and to end the resolution process with Kurds." (DŞ/SD)