Demirtas clarifies why he requested to meet Ocalan, details revelations about resolution process

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas on Wednesday clarified details about his latest declarations over the resolution process in Turkey that ended in 2015 and his request to meet PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan who is currently serving a life sentence in the Imrali island prison.

Demirtas, in his article titled “An elephant does not only consist of a hose” which was posted on the web site Gazete Duvar, said the reason behind his request to meet Ocalan was “to end conflicts and deescalate tensions.”

“It is much more moral and legitimate to say that delegations should be sent to Imrali rather than to send troops across the border. In addition, it is neither right nor ethical to argue about Ocalan when his right to speak has been taken away,” said, former co-chair of HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party)

The second issue Demirtas touched upon to clarify was his latest revelation concerning the resolution process for the Kurdish question that ended in failure in 2015.

Last week, Demirtas said that the head of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) Hakan Fidan, using the then HDP deputy Sirri Sureyya Onder as an intermediary, wanted to replace Ocalan’s role with Demirtas, but he rejected this.

“Comments went beyond the limits of reason and morality based on my statements that Sirri Sureyya Onder conveyed the MIT Undersecretary's request to meet with me in 2014. Mr. Sirri was a member of the Imrali Delegation at that time. Due to this duty, he was naturally in constant contact with the relevant institutions of the state. Therefore, it was quite normal for the request for a meeting to be sent through Mr. Sirri,” Demirtas said.

He added:

“The allegations that he tried to persuade me to meet and that he tried to make me accept the meeting are heavy and immoral slanders. On the contrary, Mr. Sirri agreed with me to reject the request.”

Demirtas concluded his article by reiterating that it was not the HDP staff who gave an end to the resolution process.

“The ones who ended the process are the ones who tried to play games within the game. They are the ones who carried out the Paris assassinations, those who prepared the "Collapse Plan" in the October 2014 National Security Council, those who did not agree to bring the process to the national assembly despite all our efforts, they are the MIT.” he said.