Ocalan Signals Openness to Talks With Turkey on Kurdish Issue
Cengiz Candar interprets news reports about the meeting between members of the Peace and Democracy Party and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan at the prison on Imrali island where he is serving a life sentence.
Milliyet, one of the most influential dailies of Turkey, rattled public opinion last Thursday. Milliyet headlined the notes of the meeting between three parliamentarians from the Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] and the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan at the prison on Imrali island where he is serving a life sentence. In journalism jargon, Milliyet scored a true scoop.
But in Turkey’s fragile and even volatile political climate, it is impossible for such a news report to be received as pure news. The opposition immediately went on the offensive. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Action Party [MHP], the rigid and passionate representative of Turkish nationalism, alluded to the notes of the meeting with Ocalan, accusing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “treason” because of the steps he had taken for a solution to the Kurdish issue.
Ruling party circles quickly went on the defensive and counterattacked by claiming the meeting notes published by Milliyet did not reflect the truth and that they were a provocation to sabotage the reconciliation process.
AKP parliamentarian Yalcin Ozdogan, who is very close to the prime minister and has the title of “senior adviser,” in his March 1 column in the daily Star defined the Milliyet report in his article’s title, “Saboteurs in Action,” and declared the contents of the report as “null and void.”
