HDP, Government Agree on Continuation of Dialogue

People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Group Interim Chairpeople Pervin Buldan and İdris Baluken as well as HDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder had a scheduled meeting with Yalçın Akdoğan, Vice PM in charge of handling resolution process talks for the Turkish government. 

Speaking on behalf of the HDP delegation, İdris Baluken made a statement, saying that the meeting ended in a positive manner. Some of the highlights from Baluken’s statement are as follows: 

“The re-opening of dialog channels formed a new will. Last week’s meeting came out with the conclusion that the talks continue under any circumstances. Today, we had a one-hour meeting. I can say that it went well.”

Emphasis on dialogue 

“We agreed on keeping the dialogue channels open. We had important highlights on the usage of language in order to fasten the process and be more constructive.”

“We will have the chance to explore some issues more in detail. We also shared highlights on the assignment of more delegation members to go to Imrali Island. The government also express their perspectives on the framework of talks and Imrali Island visits. 

Visits to İmralı

“We can’t give a clear date on the visit schedule. Our talks are still underway. The government is also likely to make evaluations from their perspective.”

“After the end of planning, there won’t be any issues with visiting Imrali Island. In other issues, there seems no issues. There won’t be any obstacles against our delegation’s expansion, trips to Imrali Island and holding of informational meetings in the island. ”

Expansion of delegation 

“The government expressed no concerns on the expansion of delegation members. If details become clear in the future, we will share them with the public.”

“We don’t express anything regarding the names.”

Observation council 

“We exchanged ideas on the possibility of an observation council. There is no contradiction here. We find it very positive to have an observation council. We have several wise people in Turkey.”

Call to leave arms 

“This is one of the issues of the talks. However, it is not right to determine evaluate everything only around this. Our efforts are all about reaching the conditions of a negotiation as soon as possible. If the process is fastened to the negotiation level, all issues can be evaluated.”

Öcalan’s freedom 

“At the moment, we have only talked about the re-opening of dialogue channels that have recently been blocked. When the time comes, we will inform you on these issues. Our meeting today was about fastening up to the negotiation level.” (AS/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.