Opposition deputy questions government's silence on PKK claims

Photo: MA

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Veli Ağbaba has pointed out that the government did not respond to the claims that Turkey sent a message to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for a ceasefire.

"They are very silent about these claims, we'll see what they'll say," he said at a press conference yesterday (June 13) during a visit to the mostly Kurdish populated southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Also speaking at the conference, CHP deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu said their goal was to "solve the Kurdish question with a policy focused on peace."

"From past to present, those who did not solve the Kurdish question have dissolved ... Now, the Justice and Development Party [AKP] has started to dissolve," he added.

On June 9, Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) leader Murat Karayılan claimed that Turkey, through intermediaries, had offered the PKK to "Declare a ceasefire in Turkey, do whatever you do in other parts of [Kurdistan]."

A delegation was sent to the PKK to convey this message within the knowledge of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he claimed.

According to Karayılan, this was a plot by Turkey to make Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government and the PKK fight each other.

While Turkey's military controls some areas in the KRG's north as part of its operations against the PKK, the KRG forces recently took control of some areas from the PKK, which led to some clashes between the two.

Noting that a "war" has been going on between the PKK and Turkey for six years, Karayılan said, "Now how would we attack the peshmerga in a period of widespread attacks against us? Is this rational? Why would we open a second front?" (RT/VK)