KURDISH ISSUE

Kurdish rebel group PKK's convicted leader Abdullah Öcalan responds to chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ, saying "the army is one of the main supporters of the feudal relations in the south east of the country". "One should open the way for democratic politics if one's wary of the chiefs of politics," he said.

Başbuğ had criticized the lack of participatory politics in the region, where the PKK is most supported and the Kurdish population is condensed. "Our people have suffered much from the chiefs of politics and terror," he remarked during a visit to a border station.

"Besides political chiefs, you have employed capitalism, supporting your politics with the economy" said Öcalan during the routine weekly visit by his lawyers. "You're giving all the economic support to those feudal chiefs that surround the people. What is these people to do?"

On the other hand, Öcalan criticized his own group PKK and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) for leaving the entire burden on his shoulders regarding a possible democratic solution to the long going Kurdish issue.

The government has initiated a series of meetings with political parties, groups and NGOs to gather propositions for a peaceful solution. Öcalan has compiled his own propositions but they are yet to be released by the authorities.

His criticism to the PKK and the DTP involves accusations of incompetency to begin diplomatic negotiations between the state and the armed group. Öcalan urges that the negotiations should begin in October and that the DTP gather a congress to bring together Kurds as well as other democratic institutions and individuals.

Öcalan expressed that Iraqi Kurdish leaders, Calal Talabani and Mesud Barzani are under the influence of the US, which is also true for the government in Turkey. He claimed that the state is trying to pacifier the Kurdish uprising through the Islamist and liberal AKP government.(EÜ/AGÜ)