The commission established in the Parliament within the Peace and Democratic Society Process initiated by Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan will start its work on 5 August. Although no clear announcement has yet been made regarding the principles and functioning of the commission, which will convene with the participation of deputies from political parties in the Parliament, many people are voicing their demands for the commission.

 

OFFERED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE

 

Êlih (Batman) Peace Mothers Assembly members also listed their expectations and demands from the process. Melahat Sarhan said that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's call has created an opportunity for peace for the peoples of Turkey. Stating that the state should also take steps in this regard, Melahat Sarhan said, "Our children should not die anymore. Let the problem be solved not with weapons but with politics. This was exactly the message given by the PKK. It meant that the weapons should be silenced and negotiations should start, but the state has not taken any steps yet."

 

Noting that her brother Şükrü Baytur has been in prison for 5 years and his release has been postponed for 6 months, Melahat Sarhan said, "The government should release sick and political prisoners in this process. If this war lasts 100 years, there will be peace in the end. Therefore, the state should take steps as soon as possible."

 

ILL PRISONERS

 

Şükran Akkurt said that the state has not taken a single step since 27 February, when the process started, and added: "The executions of political prisoners in prisons are still being postponed. There is a process, but no steps are taken in accordance with the process. In fact, the process is behaved as if it does not exist. The commission to be formed in the Parliament should first address the situation of ill and political prisoners and release them. This problem should be solved through politics."

  

Halise Bilir, who said that her son Aydın Bilir (Serdar Zana) died in Sason district of Êlih in 2018 and Agit Bilir (Dilşer) died in Cizîr district of Şirnex (Şırnak) in 2016, said: "Mothers have been crying for 50 years, it is time to end this war. We do not want neither Kurdish nor Turkish mothers to cry."

 

FREEDOM FOR ÖCALAN

 

Halise Bilir also criticised the "State without Terror" discourse used by the government regarding the process and said, "Peace cannot be achieved with these discourses. The state also needs to take steps for peace. All political prisoners, especially Abdullah Öcalan, should be released."

 

MA / Ozan Bayındır