In a joint letter, imprisoned former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas and former Diyarbakir Mayor Selçuk Mızraklı said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan are the key figures in resolving the Kurdish issue and achieving peace.
From Edirne prison, Demirtas and Mızraklı expressed their thoughts on resolving the Kurdish issue and reinitiating the peace process in a letter sent to the “Peace Conference” in Diyarbakır.
They highlighted the necessity for the government’s official involvement, designating Erdogan as the primary party in any formal discussion on the Kurdish issue and Ocalan as the secondary participant, who has already held official talks with the government.
“A deep-rooted and complex issue such as the Kurdish issue cannot be resolved by Erdogan and Ocalan alone. Therefore, other parties must participate in the dialogue, including the Turkish parliament, parliamentary parties, Kurdish parties, civil society organizations, academics and intellectuals , women’s movements and syndicates,” they said.
They said that the Kurds aren’t seeking favors from anyone but rather they want to regain the freedoms they’ve lost, emphasizing that Tehran, Baghdad, Ankara, and Damascus shouldn’t be petitioned but rather engaged as negotiating partners in resolving the Kurdish issue,
“Despite all the pressure, injustice and illegal actions against us, we are in favor of dialogue and negotiations.”
