Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu met the families of martyrs and veterans at breakfast in Ankara on the occasion of September 19 Veterans’ Day in Turkey.
Touching on a series of current issues on Turkey’s public agenda, Kılıçdaroğlu also talked about the recent arrest of Abu Abdullah Al-Shami code named Jamal Abdulrahman Alwi, the “ISIS qadi” who gave the order of burning soldiers Sefter Taş and Fethi Şahin on December 22, 2016.
Recalling that Jamal Abdulrahman Alwi was not arrested until recently as he had been released pending trial, Kılıçdaroğlu asked, “Who released him? With whose will was he released? What political will did not interfere? How come he was caught in Gaziantep again and put in jail?”
Referring to İsmail Saymaz’s news on Halk TV, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, “We are lucky to have honest journalists in this country. A journalist friend of ours wrote an article; the person who had given the order to burn two soldiers opened a bird’s shop in Gaziantep. He was first arrested and sent to jail; then, he was released and opened a bird’s shop.”
In a recent article, İsmail Saymaz from Halk TV wrote that Amal Abdulrahman Alwi from Syria gave the order to execute the soldiers. 64-year-old Alwi, contrary to general belief, did not lose his life or disappeared. Alwi settled in Antep with his spouse, children, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. He also opened a birds’ shop in the southeastern province.
Living in Antep for years, Alwi was coincidentally caught upon a tip-off on June 15, 2020. He was released on March 2, 2021 on the grounds that “the evidence had been collected and there was no risk of spoliation of evidence and the defendant had familial and personal excuses.”
Judicial control measures of not leaving the household and the country were imposed on Alwi. Those measures were lifted on June 26.
Response to Bahçeli
Answering the questions of journalists after the meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu was asked a question about Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, who said that “there is no Kurdish question in Turkey” and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is “not a legitimate body.”
In response to a question about these remarks, CHP Chair Kılıçdaroğlu said, “Then, let’s tell it to that Mr. [MHP] chair: When the HDP is the Deputy Speaker at the Parliament, don’t hold up your hands and ask to speak. If you say something, your words must have some rationale…”
Addressing the public, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “I aspire to resolve your problems more than I aspire to get your votes”. He briefly added:
“I will honestly and sincerely resolve the chronic problems of Turkey. We will bring peace and quiet to this country together. We will do it together with our friends. Enough is enough; people are sick and tired of fighting. There is hunger, there is misery, there is poverty. Students graduate, students cannot find a dormitory to stay, but what are they arguing about?
These arguments will put Turkey in a vicious circle. An honest, honorable and moral politician must express the truth everywhere and in every environment. And I am expressing this: Yes, there is a problem. And where will this problem be resolved? It will be resolved at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). It is so loud and it is so clear…
What happened?
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu talked about the Kurdish question in the first part of documentary filmmaker Günel Cantak’s “Mr. Kemal and His Alliances” documentary.
Main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu said that at the elections in Turkey in 2015, he supported the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) entering the Parliament. Commenting on the Kurdish question, he said:
“There is a Kurdish question that the institution of politics has been unable to solve for 35-40 years. We need a legitimate body to resolve the Kurdish question. The institution that we call the state does not address an illegitimate body. Erdoğan did this. The state was limited to addressing İmralı (where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party / PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan is held). For instance, İmralı is not a legitimate body.
“Who is the legitimate body? We can see the HDP as a legitimate body. It had the people’s support. It came to the Parliament; therefore, it is inside the Parliament and doing its duty. If this question is to be resolved, we can do it with a legitimate body, with the HDP. For this reason, I think that the HDP must be at the Parliament.”
Commenting on Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks, former HDP Co-Chair Sezai Temelli said that “the place and interlocutor to resolve [the Kurdish question] is İmralı”, where Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been held.
Behind bars for nearly five years, former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said, “The HDP that I know aspires to resolve all problems of Turkey, including the Kurdish question; it is a political actor of its own will and it is – of course – an interlocutor. The place where it is to be resolved is naturally the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).”
Answering the questions of Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş, Temelli has said, “The opinions in that tweet were – of course – my personal opinions. They – of course – do not bind the party. Our authorized bodies – of course – make the binding statements on behalf of the HDP.
In a written statement about the issue, MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli sayd, “There is no Kurdish question in Turkey. Seeing the HDP as a legitimate body means seeing the PKK as a legitimate body.”
Bianet