CHP leader renews terror session call

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Kılıçdaroğlu visits the family of special sergeant Ali Doğan who was killed in a traffic accident near Şırnak’s Uludere district. He renews his call to gather the parliament.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has renewed his call to the leaders of the political parties to come together in Parliament to discuss ways to solve the Kurdish issue and terrorism problem. 

“Top officials gather in mosques’ courtyards [for funerals], but they don’t gather in Parliament. Why don’t we come together in Parliament, though we do it in mosques’ courtyards?” Kılıçdaroğlu asked late Aug. 23 during a visit to the family of a soldier who was killed on Aug. 21 in the southeastern province of Şırnak in a minibus accident.

“How long will we attend martyrs’ funerals and deliver our condolences to the families of martyred soldiers? We have to put an end to this. The government should announce what it wants to do [for a solution], then we will lend them our support,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as well as the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) refused to attend an extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss the latest attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), despite the CHP’s call on Aug. 14, Kılıçdaroğlu said. “We suggested discussing a solution, but they objected, saying that it would be terrorist propaganda.”

The government has surrendered to terror, Kılıçdaroğlu said. “If we keep our tone against the government softened, that’s because we want to prevent the increase of polarization in Turkey. But if the government will do something on this issue, they should hurry up. We are expecting it.”

CHP deputy chair Umut Oran, for his part, suggested that the government should either resolve this issue, or step aside “as a government that cannot maintain its people’s right to live is expected to do.” “If the AKP and MHP had come to Parliament on Aug. 14 [for the extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss terror], maybe we would not have experienced the tragedy of Aug. 14 [the Gaziantep bombing]. If you keep Parliament closed, the agenda will be set by something other than the people’s will. Politicians should gather at Parliament instead of funerals,” CHP deputy chair Umut Oran told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday. CHP deputy group chair Akif Hamzaçebi, for his part, called on all political parties to reconsider Kılıçdaroğlu’s proposal to form a parliamentary panel to put an end to terror.