DEFENCE REGIONS OF MEDYA, — The president of Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (KCK) Murat Karayilan has answered a number of questions on the current political situation in Turkey, after the Election Board decision to strip Hatip Dicle of his mandate and the Block deputies decision to boycott parliament.
* The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has announced that Hatip Dicle has been stripped of his legal mandate. Some papers point out to the government in respect of the decision. How do you evaluate the developments?
– YSK’s decision is important and it is a decision about the Kurdish question. At this stage of history, the Kurdish issue and the Kurdish Liberation Movement have entered a very important process. The June 12 elections in Turkey have revealed many important results concerning the solution of the Kurdish problem and Turkey’s democratization. Elections in Kurdistan were practiced in the form of a political struggle that developed between Kurdish Freedom Movement and the colonialist politics. The AKP, using all possibilities of the state, intended to obtain a result through all kinds of pressure, extortion, restriction and constraint. The elections had a referendum value for the Kurdish people who voted for Democratic Republic and Democratic Autonomy. Voting for the Democratic Autonomy project rather than individuals, our people in Kurdistan have presented a high level of political freewill. Our people voted for and accepted the Democratic Autonomy project of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block.
* Block MPs have announced that they will not go to the parliament until the government takes a concrete step. How do you consider this attitude?
This decision is, in fact, the decision of the Turkish state to restrain, deflate and weaken the Kurdish politics, with a message to them ‘you can’t achieve everything, we can prevent you’. As well as being disrespect and disregarding of the Kurdish people and their freewill, the decision also imposes dishonour to the Kurdish politics. When considered from this point of view, the call of the DTK and the decision of the Block MPs not to go to the parliament is a quite appropriate and rightful decision.
* Abdullah Ocalan said that after 15 June ceasefire needs to be extended and he put two conditions. Do you think the government will respond positively?
– As we know, June 15 was the stage of a decision and Leader Apo, considering the election results, regarded the development of a new political process as necessary. He described the process as “the process of making a democratic constitutional settlement functional” and in this context, he made calls to the Turkish state and to relevant powers and to our movement. And in this respect, we did our part to enable the process to deepen as a real peaceful and democratic process and to enable the functionality of a constitutional solution process. Announcing the two conditions we regard as necessary to make this process not to fail as the former processes, we opened the way of a democratic and constitutional solution. Our conditions were a call from the parliament to the Leadership to play his part and to provide appropriate conditions for him, and the end of military and political operations on the basis of peaceful and democratic ways rather than elimination policies. In this phase, when we are expecting steps towards our demands, the interference of the state in the process, regardless of the positive atmosphere created by the Block MPs, is actually a response to the conditions we have mentioned.
* You suggest that profound steps are needed in terms of the Kurdish problem. What could be the basic steps for a radical solution of the problem?
– Yes, there is a need for radical policies and practical steps. The Turkish government should change its policy in this regard and face its past. The Kurdish problem can’t be solved unless the state confronts its past and tells the truths directly to the people. The government should also give up the manner of solving the problem by using armed and physical forces. Some circles criticize us for committing acts of violence but there is something to be noted here; the self-defense of the freedom fighters of the Kurdish people can’t be considered as violence while the violence committed by the government, army, police with highest technology and their disabling people by means of killing is named as democracy. The violence can’t be ended unilaterally, therefore we call for a bilateral ceasefire.