Turkey Live Coverage (6 June): Erdogan Chides Israel; A Meeting on the Kurdish Issue
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 10:30See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Spread of the Conflict
1900 GMT: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has landed in Istanbul. Clinton is going to be attending the Global Counter-terrorism Forum on Thursday with the attendance of other 28 foreign ministers.
1830 GMT: BDP's deputy Aysel Tugluk said:
Prime Minister should know that no solution can be developed by denying PKK and Mr. Ocalan and we will not be in such a solution. We are calling on the state to be more reasonable.
1745 GMT: The first reaction from Peace and Democracy Party comes. BDP's deputy Ahmet Tan said that they were ready to negotiate even without the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Tan also added that they received no official demand from other parties to sit on the table.
1710 GMT: The meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and CHP's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu ended. Without explaining the content, CHP Deputy Chairmen Faruk Loğoğlu said the meeting was “positive” and “productive,” adding that officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) underlined that the contribution of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is key to moving forward with establishing a commission composed of all four parties in Parliament.
So, the decision from the meeting is this: CHP shall convince both MHP and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for the importance of a consensus and all four parties will seek a common understanding in a commission at the Parliament later. In other words, AKP put the ball in CHP's court, giving the responsibility from the government to the hands of the main opposition party since the government believes that those huge differences between the nationalist MHP and the pro-Kurdish BDP will not lead to a consensus easily. Foreseeing a commission without any governmental initiative, insisting that PKK must lay down arms unconditionally and keeping military operations across the country will not be the politically productive conditions for a peaceful understanding between parties.
After all, if CHP's efforts fail, it will be those 'unconvinced' parties that do not want peace, according to the government. So, the Erdogan sees nothing to loose during this CHP-leading process.
1520 GMT: The third round of the Turkey-European Union political dialogue meeting is going to be held in Istanbul on Thursday. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, EU Affairs Minister and Chief EU Negotiator Egemen Bağış, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle will be present at the meeting.
1445 GMT: Around 90 medical students were detained in operations conducted against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) which is claimed to be an urban umbrella organisation of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
1300 GMT: A security scare, as a suspicious car joined the convoy of Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin in Adana Province. Police tried to stop the automobile, but two suspects fled after the car rolled over.
On Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said ambassadors of 17 Western countries, including Turkey, were being expelled. Turkey had expelled Syria's charge d'affaires last week.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials say the Turkish Consulate General in Aleppo is still functioning.
Meanwhile, a Turkish official says almost 2,700 Syrians fled to Turkey during the first five days of June. Officials estimate that the total number of Syrian refugees is more than 27,000.
Davos, Mavi Marmara, and Israel
The Jerusalem Post on Monday quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as saying that, if the US adamantly refuses to apologize to Pakistan for the accidental killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, Israel certainly need not apologize to Turkey for last May's deaths of nine Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the Freedom Flotilla.
On Tuesday, the World Economic Forum began in Istanbul. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his speech to link the economic development of his country in the past 10 years to its "successful foreign policy.
Without mentioning Israel, Erdogan called Palestine "the largest open-air prison in the world". Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas then took the platform to criticise Israel.
Kurdish Front
Today the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), will meet with the Government to submit their proposal for a solution to the Kurdish issue. CHP has already set out eight steps to stop the bloodshed:
- A new democratic constitution giving equal constitutional rights
- Uncovering the realities and finding out the murderers of past incidents.
- Fairness in representation and having right to take place in the political life with different identities which requires an amandment to the election treshold (10 percent currently) and to the political parties act.
- Having right to have education in mother language.
- Freedom of thought, expression and association.
- Consolidating local governments and expanding their authority on their decision-making will in their duties and responsibilities.
- Halting village guarding.
- Ending the atmosphere of violence, terror and confrontation.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli rejected the request by CHP and said:
We would never talk to anybody within the context of the Kurdish issue. Regarding terror as the so-called Kurdish issue deepens separatism.
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