Hailing peace process, Kurdish politician returns home from self-exile

ANKARA

Yaşar Kaya was a founder of the now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), which was established in 1991 and closed down in 1994. AA Photo

In show of support for the government-led peace process, leading Kurdish politician Yaşar Kaya arrived in Ankara on April 17 after living in self-exile in Germany for more than two decades as a political refugee.

Upon his arrival in the capital city, the 74-year-old politician was taken from the airport to a court to give his testimony.

“We, Turkish and Kurdish intellectuals, have been wishing for complete democracy in Turkey for 50 years and we want this to become a reality. Everybody will be relieved if complete democracy comes to Turkey, Now, steps for this are being taken,” Kaya told Anadolu Agency ahead of his departure from Frankfurt for Ankara.

Kaya was a founder of the now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), which was established in 1991 and closed down in 1994.

On March 6, the Ankara 11th Heavy Penal Court issued non-arrest assurances to exiles Kaya, Yusuf Serhat Bucak and Şerafettin Kaya if they returned to the country within three months, in consideration of their age and health situation.

“Exile is an open prison that takes some things from a human’s personality,” Kaya told Anadolu Agency. “If there was no resolution process and these steps were not taken, then we would not be able to return Turkey because there had been an arrest decision from the court,” he added.

Made public personally by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in late December 2012, the currently stalled peace process is aimed at ending the three-decade-long conflict between Turkey’s security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in order to hopefully pave the way for the resolution of the decades-long Kurdish issue.