Özgür Özel: The promising part of the process is the democratization of Turkey

According to Kurdistan Press, Özgür Özel, the leader of the newly established New Party, explained the controversial statements he had made in recent days about the peace process and democratic society in an interview with Murat Sabuncu from the T24 news website.

In response to a question about the current stage of the process and the discussions raised about the status of Abdullah Öcalan, Özel said: “We stand by what we signed, what we voted for and what we said.»

The promising issue is democratization

The New Party leader stated regarding the limitation of the discussions in this process to the disarmament of the PKK: “I say that if an organization lays down its arms and various government mechanisms have also examined the conditions for disarmament, it is not our duty to oppose it.”

Referring to the sixth and seventh paragraphs of the parliamentary commission report, he added: “But in the seventh paragraph, democratization is mentioned and Turkey’s main victory will be in this section. Kurds, Turks, Turkey, the poor and unemployed of this country, as well as Diyarbakir, the region and eastern and southeastern Anatolia will benefit from this section. This is the main, exciting and promising issue.”

Stimulating the sensitivities of society endangers the process

Özel emphasized that his party’s signature was not limited to just one section of the report and included the whole of it. He said that creating artificial discussions would not help advance the process.He added: “We signed the entire report. Now, social opposition and polarization are forming; while the success of such processes is measured by the level of support they receive from society. It is dangerous to provoke sensitive points in society.”

The process does not need tension, it needs reciprocal measures

Özel said that in order to increase social support for the process, the parties should take mutual and trust-building measures instead of creating tension.

He stated: “The point I want to emphasize is that for the implementation of Article 6 and its success, Article 7 is very important. What is Section 7? Democratization.”

The New Party leader added: “What I am saying is the release of Demirtaş and the implementation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. In this case, Kavala, the prisoners in the Gezi case and Demirtaş will be released; everyone will be released.»

Ozel also considered the end of the appointment of the elected mayors of municipalities as part of this process, saying: “With the steps we call democratization, the issue of appointing the mayor will also disappear. Now we have a package for democratization that is clearly stated in Article 7. I tried to draw attention to this opportunity. My issue is the democratic steps being taken.”