President Erdogan declares separatist terror over in two speeches
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 11 attended provincial party congresses of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the southeastern Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa provinces.
The congresses coincided with the government’s recent reconciliation efforts with the Kurds, which are now marketed to the domestic audience as “unconditional and unilateral disarmament of terror organization PKK and the Syrian Kurdish political-military entity PYD-YPG.
In the Sanliurfa congress, Erdoğan said a “great consensus” between political parties had emerged regarding the new opening, reports Duvar English.
“The era of those who exploited our region through terrorist organizations is over. The era of using terror as a weapon and tool is completely over. The separatist organization (PKK) has no choice but to dissolve itself. Terrorism and democracy cannot exist side by side. Terror and politics cannot coexist. Either those weapons will be buried or those pointing guns at Turkey will be buried. Other than that, there is no third way, no alternative,” he said.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a441QTHEv4c&t=1332s[/embed]
“There is hope and a very favorable atmosphere for the end of terrorism and the consolidation of fraternity. We find this positive atmosphere in the political scene very valuable. We are in consensus as the People's Alliance,” which includes nationalist MHP, he added.
While reconciliation is sought with Kurds, the government’s crackdown on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party did not slow down as the latter’s mayors are being ousted one by one. The lates victim of sackings is the DEM mayor and municipal assembly members of Mersin township Akdeniz.
In the Diyarbakir congress, Erdoğan said new developments in the Middle East opened “a new and important window of opportunity before our country to end the scourge of terrorism,” referring to the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
“We are at the stage of breaking the last link of the imperialist game that has caused this nation so much pain for almost half a century, separated it from its children, and darkened the future of this nation, God willing,” he added.
Erdoğan also stressed that the efforts had only “one goal,” that is “the dissolution of the terrorist organization, the unconditional surrender of weapons, the complete removal of the organization's tutelage over politics…”
Erdogan may be right. DEM Party is talking to all parties represented inn the Grand Assembly and Ocalan to support reconciliation. Pro-AKP sources claim that after another meeting with DEM Party reps in the next couple of weeks, Ocalan will call upon PKK to disband. It is less certain but he may extend his plea to PYD-YPG.
The opposition believes that the concealed objective of AKP-MHP is to tie the reconciliation process to a new constitution which will grant Erdogan eligibility for a third term at the helm.
