12-12-2009
Ankara- The DTP-leader Ahmet Turk said today in a press conference that the pro-Kurdish parliamentary group will step out of the Turkish parliament, after the Constitutional Court banned the party for links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The DTP-leader said that the people who want to stop violence and create peace are treated as terrorists. “I do not say this to protect us, but this doesn’t have any effect after the ruling of the Turkish constitutional court, but you didn’t hear us say in any declaration that this issue can be solved with violence,” said the DTP leader, due to the fact the party was accused of instigating violence after violent protests by Kurds erupted in Turkey, protesting the alleged maltreatment of the imprisoned PKK-leader Ocalan.
The Kurdish leader emphasizes that the ruling is a political choice and not a judicial one. “This can be best seen by the political ban of Leyla Zana. She didn’t create the DTP nor is she related to any of this. Still she is seen as one of the reasons of the closure. This shows again how serious and careful the judges have dealt with the case. Ahmet Türk also criticized the main opposition party, the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) for defending the clandestine terrorist network Ergenekon, the CHP-leader Deniz Baykal said he was the ‘lawyer of Ergenekon’ beginning this year. “They act like a lawyer and say they support Ergenekon 100 percent. Nothing happens to them and prosecutors stay silent. But the voices of the people who want peace are silenced.”
Today’s Zaman reported that it’s possible that the remaining 19 DTP could join the Peace and Democracy Party (BBP), which was created in May last year by DTP supporters as a possible successor party. But only if the independent Istanbul deputy Ufak Uras joins the BBP, since a parliamentary group needs 20 members.
© Rudaw
