HDP deputies are hopeful that the stalled solution process to end the decades-long Kurdish issue will continue

World Bulletin/News Desk

Members of the left-wing and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP, are hopeful that the stalled solution process to settle the Kurdish issue will soon be resumed.

The solution process is an effort launched early last year by the Turkish government to secure an end to the decades-long conflict with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.

"After the meeting we had yesterday [Tuesday] with the members of the Solution Process Council, I can say that there is a mutual willingness to continue the talks which have been interrupted for a while," HDP group deputy chair, Pervin Buldan, told a press conference on Wednesday.

The so-called Solution Process Council was established in October by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's cabinet in order to guide the efforts towards seeing the Kurdish issue through to a final agreement as soon as possible.

Buldan said that they applied to the Ministry of Justice to obtain permission to visit Abdullah Ocalan, the founding member and jailed leader of the PKK, which is listed by Turkey, EU and the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

Ocalan has been imprisoned on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea since his capture in Nairobi, Kenya by Turkish security forces in 1999. 

"Preventing our delegation from visiting Imrali would mean an end to the dialogue process launched with Ocalan, which would in turn lead to an end to the solution process itself," Buldan said.

Buldan said that the party's application filed with the Justice Ministry was "a clear indicator of their determination and sincerity to continue the solution process."

"What we need is to resume the dialogue process at once," she stressed.

Buldan also warned against "dumping the responsibility of creating public order on political parties, and creating an impression that the HDP was behind last month's deadly protests."

The government blamed the HDP for inciting the pro-Kurdish violence in last month's deadly protests, which in turn led to an interruption in the solution process.

The demonstrations came after the Peoples’ Democratic Party issued a call, via social media, inviting its sympathizers to take to the streets as a sign of solidarity with Syria's ISIL-besieged, Kurdish populated town of Kobani.

The call was followed by a week of violence that left at least 38 civilians and two police officers dead, along with scores of damaged vehicles, state buildings, political party offices and shops.

The Turkish Prime Minister had said last week that the fate of Turkey's solution process was in the hands of the pro-Kurdish opposition party.

Ahmet Davutoglu called on the HDP to act as a political party in order to remain an integral part of the solution process, which he said would continue in line with the HDP's attitude.

He also said it was time for the HDP to prove itself as a peaceful party "fighting only for a political cause."

Davutoglu also reiterated his government's resolute stance to see the solution process through as soon as possible.

Source http://www.worldbulletin.net/turkey/148252/pro-kurdish-party-hopeful-peace-process-will-resume