The co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party has denied any political alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party, following remarks from the president suggesting cooperation between the two sides in ongoing peace efforts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), said Erdoğan’s recent comments about the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the DEM Party working together had been misinterpreted.
“There is absolutely no alliance,” Hatimoğulları said Monday on Halk TV. “We are not walking with any party. We are ‘walking with the state’ for peace. This cannot be reduced to the interest of a single party.”
Her comments followed Erdoğan’s speech over the weekend in which he said the AKP, MHP and DEM Party had “decided to walk this road together,” a statement widely interpreted as signaling a possible new political coalition. The AKP and MHP are partners in the People’s Alliance, which was set up prior to the 2018 elections.
Erdoğan made the comments shortly after a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq where the PKK burned its weapons, an event seen as a sign of the group’s intention to end its decades-long armed conflict with Turkey.
The move followed calls in February by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan for the militant group to lay down its arms and disband. The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, announced in May that it would lay down its arms and disband in line with Öcalan’s call.
Speaking at a meeting of his party on Saturday, Erdoğan said: “Let me emphasize: As the People’s Alliance, together with the DEM Party delegation, we will nurture this process and carry it into the future, God willing.” He called for reconciliation and unity, adding, “There is no longer a need to keep our fists clenched. We will shake hands and embrace.”
The remarks sparked speculation about a formal alliance with the DEM Party, which has frequently criticized Erdoğan’s government and has often been accused by Erdoğan and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli of having ties to terrorism, a charge the party strongly denies.
Pervin Buldan, a senior DEM Party official and member of the delegation involved in dialogue with Öcalan, also stressed that the party’s engagement with the government was confined to the peace initiative.
“This is a process partnership, not a political one,” Buldan told the ANKA news agency. “Everyone’s position and direction is clear. The DEM Party walking alongside the People’s Alliance should not be misunderstood.”
She added that while the DEM Party is at the center of the peace process, the responsibility for resolving the Kurdish issue lies with the government.
The Kurdish issue, a term prevalent in Turkey’s public discourse, refers to the demand for equal rights by the country’s Kurdish population and their struggle for recognition.
The Turkish government says no concessions have been made to the PKK to convince it to lay down its weapons. Still, there is widespread uncertainty and expectations about how the process will unfold and what steps the government may take to address longstanding demands from the Kurdish population, particularly regarding expanded political and cultural rights.
The conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the 1980s and has deeply affected Turkey’s southeastern provinces, contributing to cycles of violence, repression and political polarization.