The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Osmaniye Provincial Organization gathered with party members at a solidarity dinner. Attending the event, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar emphasized that, at a time when a new period is being discussed in Turkey, the most critical issue is the Kurdish question, adding that a solution is only possible through a peace and democratic society process.
Uçar noted that everyone’s efforts and ideas are valuable in shaping the new period and said, “In our 100-year history, we have experienced together the difficulties of being Kurdish, being Alevi, being a woman and being a laborer. The Kurdish people have experienced an even heavier version of all these.”
Resources must be directed toward strengthening life
Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar highlighted the direct connection between economic policies and the peace process, noting that war policies exhaust all the resources of society, and said: “Resources must be directed not to war but to areas that strengthen people’s lives. What we call the peace process is not allocating the country’s resources to war; it is directing them to infrastructure, production and an economic framework that improves the living conditions of the people. For this reason, peace is both an economic and a political peace.”
Uçar also spoke about the issue of trustee appointments and the arrests targeting politicians, stating that the space for democratic politics is being narrowed and added: “Law also means peace. We need a democratic system in which denial and racism have no place, and where everyone can exist as themselves.”
Peace is the will to engage in politics with one’s own identity
Uçar stated that the country’s economic policies, especially in Kurdistan, are built on punishment, drawing attention to the resulting problems of migration, poverty and unemployment. Uçar emphasized that peace also includes political freedoms and said:“The political rights of the Kurds were usurped through trustee appointments, arrests and party closures. The political sphere has been kept under constant judicial threat. Peace is the will of everyone, especially the Turks living in this country, to engage in politics with their own identity and values. This is also the construction of a new country.”
We will be the hands and feet of this process
Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar recalled that the historical rights of the Kurds regarding identity, language and political representation were denied, and said that the pluralist structure present in the 1921 Constitution was eliminated by the 1924 Constitution. Uçar added that Turkey is a society enriched by its differences and stated that suppressing this diversity has pushed the country into a dead end.
Uçar described the parliamentary commission’s meeting with Abdullah Öcalan on Imrali as both “historic” and “a breaking point of denial,” and said: “The Kurdish people preserved their will for peace together with Mr. Öcalan. When you are building a process, you cannot ignore its essential counterpart. Today, this relationship has reached an important level. The commission’s meeting will be one of the most important prescriptions showing that democracy in Turkey and the coexistence of different identities are possible.”
Uçar also underlined that the peace process must be embraced by society and said: “The Democratic Society and Peace Process has no hands or arms. We will be the hands, the feet and the ones who carry this process forward.”