Kurdish politician says PKK to withdraw from Turkey shortly

[Piling]

April 20, 2013

ISTANBUL,— Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder said that the withdrawal of Kurdish PKK guerrillas from southeastern Turkey (North Kurdistan) will begin in 8-10 days, in an interview to Hürriyet daily on Saturday. Önder pointed out that after the withdrawal a process of decisions will begin.

Önder said he was hopeful about the process and added that “Following the meetings I held with the representatives of all institutions involved in the decision making process among the PKK guerrillas in Qandil, I have seen that they approach the process with hope and self-confidence in their own power and structure. What hope means to them is being together and believing in a true liberation. What the public cannot see about them is the fact that they are not only military fighters but also people who have the capability and skills of building a new life and hope for the humanity”.

Referring to the withdrawal, Önder said this should pave the way for the removal of obstacles to civil politics which -he underlined- included "the removal of the Mussolinian reference and articles in the law on meetings and demonstrations, abolishment of the anti-terror law that enables the imprisonment of people demanding their legal and politic rights,www.ekurd.net enabling the representation of all peoples in elections, removal of the ten percent election threshold and removal of the obstacles to the organization of all cultural and religious identities. Arms will become useless once a democratic structure is succeeded in all these areas", he underlined.

Noting that PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) will withdraw as Öcalan has proposed, Önder said that “all structures within the KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) have a strong will in terms of strengthening Öcalan's proposal. They are discussing the mechanisms of withdrawal”.

Önder added the followings as to the discussions he had also witnessed during the meetings in Kandil, “Karayılan and the KCK Executive Council strongly objected to the proposal that some in KCK put forward, suggesting that a part of the guerrillas should stay in the northern area (Turkey) as a precautionary measure. It was later agreed that KCK would leave no armed groups in Turkey in order to keep the promise it made to Mr. Öcalan and to the peoples of Turkey”.

Asked about what these guerrillas would do after the withdrawal, Önder said, “KCK staff is currently working on a program for involvement of guerrillas in civil democratic politics on the basis of democratic liberation. It goes without saying that they will be taking other steps in accordance to the fulfillment of the promises the state has made to implement this process”.

Asked about people's doubts about the genuinity of the government in the peace project, Önder added that the Kurdish people trust in Kurdish leader Öcalan was the main guarantee for the process to succeed.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, firatnews.com

[Anthea]

April 20, 2013

ISTANBUL,— Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder said that the withdrawal of Kurdish PKK guerrillas from southeastern Turkey (North Kurdistan) will begin in 8-10 days, in an interview to Hürriyet daily on Saturday. Önder pointed out that after the withdrawal a process of decisions will begin.

Önder said he was hopeful about the process and added that “Following the meetings I held with the representatives of all institutions involved in the decision making process among the PKK guerrillas in Qandil, I have seen that they approach the process with hope and self-confidence in their own power and structure. What hope means to them is being together and believing in a true liberation. What the public cannot see about them is the fact that they are not only military fighters but also people who have the capability and skills of building a new life and hope for the humanity”.

Referring to the withdrawal, Önder said this should pave the way for the removal of obstacles to civil politics which -he underlined- included "the removal of the Mussolinian reference and articles in the law on meetings and demonstrations, abolishment of the anti-terror law that enables the imprisonment of people demanding their legal and politic rights,www.ekurd.net enabling the representation of all peoples in elections, removal of the ten percent election threshold and removal of the obstacles to the organization of all cultural and religious identities. Arms will become useless once a democratic structure is succeeded in all these areas", he underlined.

If Kurds surrender completely, and leave Turkish soil before there is any change in the law, or any amnesty, or any increased rights, then they deserve all they get - or will not get as will probably be the case

Noting that PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) will withdraw as Öcalan has proposed, Önder said that “all structures within the KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) have a strong will in terms of strengthening Öcalan's proposal. They are discussing the mechanisms of withdrawal”.

Önder added the followings as to the discussions he had also witnessed during the meetings in Kandil, “Karayılan and the KCK Executive Council strongly objected to the proposal that some in KCK put forward, suggesting that a part of the guerrillas should stay in the northern area (Turkey) as a precautionary measure. It was later agreed that KCK would leave no armed groups in Turkey in order to keep the promise it made to Mr. Öcalan and to the peoples of Turkey”.

Asked about what these guerrillas would do after the withdrawal, Önder said, “KCK staff is currently working on a program for involvement of guerrillas in civil democratic politics on the basis of democratic liberation. It goes without saying that they will be taking other steps in accordance to the fulfillment of the promises the state has made to implement this process”.

Asked about people's doubts about the genuinity of the government in the peace project, Önder added that the Kurdish people trust in Kurdish leader Öcalan was the main guarantee for the process to succeed.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, firatnews.com

Trust erDOGan/Ocalan

[talsor]

This is from Hürriyet daily , so I will take it with lots of salt . As far as we know for certain , PKK leadership in Qandil including Murat Karalyan and Duran Kalkan rejected any notion of withdrawal from Northern Kurdistan .What Ocalan or Kerdogan say in this case is irrelevant here .

The process in my view does not exist period and I'm surprised so many people are buying into it . Ocalan once again is being used to humiliate Kurds and destroy their spirits . If Kurds listen to him they are doomed and if they do not listen to him they are doomed too , because there will most certainly be an internal fighting between kurds who follow Ocalan without any question and those who actually have a brain . Over all it is a win win situation for turkey

Personally , I do not think PKK will ever withdraw unless there is some solid changes in turkey and we all know that is not going to happen , so enjoy the obras sobre and do not take it seriously .

[Piling]

As Hürriyet quotes Sırrı Süreyya Önder, I suppose that if they have distorted his speeches, he would have denied them.

But such contradictions between BDP MP's and Guerrilla commanders, attitudes is not surprising : this is obviously a conflict of interests. BDP could hope to gain independency from PKK military branch and win more power, while Guerilla has everything to lost with a withdrawal from mountains.

[Anthea]

This is from Hürriyet daily , so I will take it with lots of salt . As far as we know for certain , PKK leadership in Qandil including Murat Karalyan and Duran Kalkan rejected any notion of withdrawal from Northern Kurdistan .What Ocalan or Kerdogan say in this case is irrelevant here.

The story was on the Firat site and I always thought that they were reasonably reliable

Personally, I have always had a GREAT DEAL of RESPECT for Murat Karalyan, and I think that he should be recognised as the real leader of the PKK. It should be recognised that the PKK is run by a committee, of which Murat Karalyan is the leader. He deserves a great deal of credit for all his years of hard work

I personally feel that Murat Karalyan and the committee should have the right to do what they believe is right, without being expected to follow instruction from erDOGan/Ocalan.

The process in my view does not exist period and I'm surprised so many people are buying into it . Ocalan once again is being used to humiliate Kurds and destroy their spirits . If Kurds listen to him they are doomed and if they do not listen to him they are doomed too , because there will most certainly be an internal fighting between kurds who follow Ocalan without any question and those who actually have a brain . Over all it is a win win situation for turkey

Personally , I do not think PKK will ever withdraw unless there is some solid changes in turkey and we all know that is not going to happen , so enjoy the obras sobre and do not take it seriously .

I have always thought that this so-called peace process was designed to destroy the PKK

[Londoner]

Withdrawal from North Kurdistan to the south doesn't mean disarming and doesn't make any difference. The process can be implemented in any form. If Turkey committed to a ceasefire Kurds should create an impression that their armed force, PKK, withdrawn from the North. In parallel to that they should take the opportunity of ceasefire to strengthen PKK without rest.

Kurdish question has become a feud and a challenge between new Turkey, Islamists, and old Turkey, Turkish army and Kemalist Seculars. Old Turkey stands against Kurds and Islamist Turks and Islamist Turks stand against Old Turkey and have a strong feud against them. In addition to that the Old Turkey has become something out of date and lost Western Support since the end of the cold war. Islamist Turks have become more viable to the requirements of the modern time and have got a strong lever against Old Turkey.

Nothing hurts Old Turkey more than positive steps towards Kurdish rights. Islamist Turks have no sympathy to the question of Kurds but will do anything to take revenge from Old Turkey and hurt it. Accordingly Kurdish question becomes a silver bullet for the Islamist Turks to blast the heart of Old Turkey. Since Turkey became a republic during each election Islamist Turks won it but they were deprived from it either by election fraud or military coup and most of the times their political parties made illegal according to Old Turkey Constitution. On 1960s a military coup executed an elected Islamist Turk prime minister.

Old Turkey, Turkish Army and Kemalist Seculars, is a major threat to Kurds, not Islamist Turks. It has become obvious at least Kurds now can negotiate with the Islamist Turks. Additionally it would be very risky for Islamist Turks to use armed force against Kurds. Because it would backfire against themselves.

So the job of the Kurds at these times is not to let Old Turkey to regain strength. They have to do their best to humiliate it and destroy its foundation. It has become the new sick man of the region in this modern time. It has taken over former position of the Ottoman Empire when neck named 'Sick Man of Europe'. So Kurds must not let this sick man recover. They have to poison it to death. Kurds can send this new sick man to his last resting place by not letting Islamist Turks losing next election or at least not to let this New Sick Man to win election. For this, they have to do anything to create an environment for this purpose.

Creating an impression that PKK has withdrawn to the South and the war has ended should strengthen the position of Islamist Turks and demoralise and degrade the new sick man of Europe during next election.

[Shirko]

Pretty good analysis Londoner, makes sense to me. This whole withdrawal and disarmament talk is just a show for the Turkish public and the hardliners, the Turkish Islamist can use it as a victory and at the same time the Kurds in NK are not really losing anything. Who cares if you disarm and withdraw guerilla forces, they can easily sneak back in and rearm, that's what guerrilla forces are good at doing, especially the PKK.

[Londoner]

Pretty good analysis Londoner, makes sense to me. This whole withdrawal and disarmament talk is just a show for the Turkish public and the hardliners, the Turkish Islamist can use it as a victory and at the same time the Kurds in NK are not really losing anything. Who cares if you disarm and withdraw guerilla forces, they can easily sneak back in and rearm, that's what guerrilla forces are good at doing, especially the PKK.

Precisely!!! This is a golden opportunity for Kurds and Islamist Turks. For Islamist Turks the question of Kurds is a matter of survival against outdated Kemalist Turks, the new sick man of Europe. For Kurds to help this sick man to die quickly, will open the door of a peaceful solution widely.