HDP's Buldan: General Staff Deserves To Know More About Settlement

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) parliamentary group deputy chairwoman Pervin Buldan said on Monday that the General Staff is not informed about the settlement process due to the lack of a roadmap, adding, “Everyone will know more when a specific plan is put forward in the coming weeks.”

Speaking to the Cumhuriyet daily, Buldan said the General Staff should be regarded as one of the participants in the settlement process and that it has every right to see the roadmap regarding the ongoing efforts to end the decades-old Kurdish question through peaceful and democratic means. She noted, however: “The government cannot share the roadmap because it has not been created yet. We had a meeting with [government] authorities two days ago and in the upcoming weeks we will come up with a specific plan regarding the issue.”

Stating that the roadmap will be shared with all the interlocutors once complete, Buldan added that both the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leadership on the Kandil Mountains and Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK currently imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara, must approve the plan before it is released.

Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel said on Aug. 30 that the government has not briefed the military regarding its secret efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue. Responding to questions on the settlement process at a Victory Day reception hosted by newly inaugurated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Çankaya presidential palace, Özel told reporters: “We are not part of that effort. I wish we were.”

Deputy Buldan criticized Özel for a statement he made about “red lines,” saying: “Everybody has red lines. But the chief of General Staff must give up using this kind of cliché. Everyone must stay away from any kind of statement that might have a negative impact on the settlement process. As a matter of fact, we have red lines, too. What if we were to make similar statements? Everybody should do their part to prevent possible negative impacts on the process.”

Last week Özel said the military still maintains “red lines” when it comes to fighting terrorism. “We have said in the past that we will do what is necessary if our red lines are crossed and we will continue to say what needs to be said. We have been conducting this fight for 30 years,” Özel said. But he added that there are now “nuances” in the description of those red lines compared to 10 years ago.
CHP submits parliamentary question about Gen. Özel's remarks

Opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Umut Oran submitted a parliamentary question on Monday asking how many people know the details of the negotiations being conducted between Öcalan and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) officers since October of last year.

Requesting a written response, Oran submitted his question to Turkey's newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, asking whether Davutoğlu himself had been informed about the negotiations when he was foreign minister and, if so, whether or not he was involved in the “so-called peace process” at that time.
Oran also requested a response to the following questions: “Does Prime Minister Davutoğlu consider the PKK a terrorist group? Why is the General Staff not informed about the process? If the Prime Ministry considers the PKK a terrorist group, why does it not inform the General Staff of every step it takes against [and with] the PKK? Will the Prime Ministry ever inform the General Staff [regarding the process]? What are those ‘red lines' Gen. Necdet Özel mentioned?” (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)