"Don't touch DTP, Allow PKK to Disarm"

Around 300 people marched in the Istiklal Street in central Istanbul on Sunday (18 November), shouting slogans such as "Don't let Turkey turn into Bosnia", "Murderer USA out of the Middle East", "Long live the brotherhood of peoples", and "Peace in the world, in the region, in the country".

Ufuk Uras, MP and chair of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), said: "There has been enough pain suffered on the soil that we were born on, we do not want fresh pain. We want to live together in peace on the basis of equality. For this to happen, an end must be put to the deadlock in the Kurdish question."

Uras called for the following:

• The problem is not solved with prohibitions, oppression or by closing down political parties who speak about the Kurdish question. The Democratic Society Party (DTP) represents an important opportunity for a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish question. Do not miss this opportunity, leave the DTP alone.
• The Kurdish question is a social problem, a question of inequality. Stop representing the Kurdish question as a matter of law and order. Take steps to allow the PKK to disarm. Apply a decisive regional development plan in order to end regional inequality.
• We call on the PKK: The peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue is not possible with armed attacks, land mines and bombs. The whole of society, including Kurdish citizens, is in pain.

Uras added, "We will not allow our country to become like Bosnia, to be drawn into an internal conflict based on ethnic divisions. We will stand against the imperialism which tries to pull our country and our neighbours into disaster and to create antagonism." (EZÖ/NZ/AG)