'Parliament is where the Kurdish question is to be resolved,' says Demirtaş

* Photos: Selahattin Demirtaş's Twitter account; HDP Press

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Behind bars in the Edirne Prison for nearly five years despite the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Constitutional Court, former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş has commented on a recent statement of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the Chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

Speaking in a documentary, Kılıçdaroğlu has said that "they can resolve the Kurdish question with the HDP as a legitimate body."

Sending a message from prison via his attorneys, Selahattin Demirtaş has responded to these remarks as follows:

"The HDP that I know aspires to resolve all problems of Turkey, including the Kurdish question; it is a political actor of its own will and it is - of course - an interlocutor. The place where it is to be resolved is naturally the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

"Of course, the HDP has the political accumulation and experience to know the open and transparent participation and addressing of all sides and every section in resolving the Kurdish issue. Bringing up useless and obsolete debates does not contribute to the resolution."

Temelli: It was my personal opinion

Commenting on Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's remarks, former HDP Co-Chair Sezai Temelli said that "the place and interlocutor to resolve [the Kurdish question] is İmralı", where Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been held.

Answering the questions of Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş, Temelli has said, "The opinions in that tweet were - of course - my personal opinions. They - of course - do not bind the party. Our authorized bodies - of course - make the binding statements on behalf of the HDP. I want this to be known: It was not a tweet that was aimed at responding to Kılıçdaroğlu."

Referring to "the importance of addressing Öcalan within this context," Temelli said that "he drew attention to the context of conflict prevention and democratic resolution." He said, "The HDP is - of course - the legitimate interlocutor. It is the third largest party of the Parliament and it is an important party in terms of developing solutions about these issues."

What happened?

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu talked about the Kurdish question in the first part of documentary filmmaker Günel Cantak's "Mr. Kemal and His Alliances" documentary.

Main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu said that at the elections in Turkey in 2015, he supported the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) entering the Parliament. Commenting on the Kurdish question, he said:

There is a Kurdish question that the institution of politics has been unable to solve for 35-40 years. We need a legitimate body to resolve the Kurdish question. The institution that we call the state does not address an illegitimate body.

"Erdoğan did this. The state was limited to addressing İmralı (where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party / PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan is held). For instance, İmralı is not a legitimate body.

"Who is the legitimate body? We can see the HDP as a legitimate body. It had the people's support. It came to the Parliament; therefore, it is inside the Parliament and doing its duty. If this question is to be resolved, we can do it with a legitimate body, with the HDP. For this reason, I think that the HDP must be at the Parliament." (DŞ/SD)