Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları addressed the main issues on the agenda during her party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting.
Marking International Mother Language Day on 21 February, Hatimoğulları began her speech in her mother tongue, Arabic, and emphasized that mother tongues are a source of richness for humanity. She also commemorated Sevim Belli, one of the prominent figures of the Socialist Movement in Turkey, on the anniversary of her death.
The number of people in need has risen by 51 percent
Tülay Hatimoğulları said that whereas a family could once make ends meet on a single minimum wage, today even four minimum wages are not enough to rise above the poverty line. She also said that the number of people in need in Turkey has increased by 51.6 percent.
Hatimoğulları said, “I am addressing the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government from here: the lowest pension and the minimum wage must be set at least at a level equivalent to half of the poverty line.”
Environmental destruction
Hatimoğulları said that Turkey ranks first by a wide margin in Europe in the loss of natural areas. She said, “Air, water, soil, nature and the seas are not commercial commodities for you to profit from. For this reason, as the DEM Party, we will never allow millions to be left in poverty for the sake of the government’s rent-seeking preferences, nor will we allow our forests and coastlines to be plundered.”
Youth unemployment
Tülay Hatimoğulları said that amid a spiral of structural unemployment, more than 70 percent of young people see their future not in this country but abroad, and added: “In the final quarter of 2025, one in every five young women was unemployed. Attempts are being made, in particular, to place what can be described as ‘digital handcuffs’ on the lives of young women. Notifying families by SMS of the entry times of adult university students into dormitories is nothing other than patriarchal guardianship imposed by the state. In other words, this picture is much heavier for young women.”
How will we live together?
Hatimoğulları continued her remarks as follows: “Turkey is going through one of the most critical and fragile periods in its history, but if a realistic path toward a solution is pursued, it could also herald days of hope. The days ahead are not ordinary days. These are the days in which we will decide whether a knot that has been tied for a hundred years will be untied. In this context, the statement made on 18 February by our Imralı delegation, conveying the words of Mr. Öcalan, is highly significant and constitutes a political declaration. I would like to underline one sentence in particular from Mr. Öcalan: ‘We now want to discuss how we will come together and how we will live together in peace. Yes, how will we live together?’ This is Turkey’s fundamental question. Finding this question and its answer means finding the compass of the new period. We no longer want a life that leads to death through coercion; we want to live a free and democratic life based on consent. This question has now become the duty of the country.
Therefore, thinking about this question, producing proposals, and contributing to the search for answers is a shared responsibility of all 86 million citizens.”
Criticism of the language of the report
Hatimoğulları said: “The period ahead must be one of democratic integration in which violence is set aside and words and politics speak. Legal guarantees based on social consensus must be put into practice on the parliamentary floor. The issue now is how we will set the rules within the same house. The time to conduct negotiations on this has long since come and gone. The report of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission has been shared with the public. I must state clearly that the commission’s report has shortcomings and deficiencies. There are aspects that are not in harmony with social realities. The language used in the report is old and based on clichés. Whereas the language of this report should have been the language of solution. It should have been a new, entirely fresh language. To frame the Kurdish question within the brackets of terrorism is nothing but self-deception. Attempting to confine the Kurdish question to a security problem or a terrorism problem is not acceptable. It means ignoring the social, political and historical fire. The time has long since come and gone to move beyond a political mindset rooted in fear of Kurds and detached from the truth.”
European Court of Human Rights and Constitutional Court rulings
Hatimoğulları also said: “No legal regulation is needed to implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Constitutional Court. This waiting is entirely arbitrary. For example, why are Selahattin Demirtaş, Figen Yüksekdağ, Osman Kavala and Can Atalay still in prison? Why are trustees still sitting in the seats of mayors and co-mayors? Why are Ekrem İmamoğlu and others still being tried in detention? There is no point in waiting until after the holiday, as Mr. Kurtulmuş and other government representatives suggest. Let us do good deeds together in this blessed month. Let us pass the Law on the Execution of Sentences as a framework of law, a law of democratization, this month. Let us offer good news and happiness to 86 million people during the holiday. As the DEM Party, we are here. We trust our perspective on democracy, equality, and freedom. The path for the DEM Party must be opened, and this is our call to the government. Parliament must fulfill its duties and responsibilities on this issue and be open to the proposals put forward by the DEM Party.”
The language of negotiation and peace must be chosen
Hatimoğulları said: “History has taught us this very clearly: denial gives rise to rebellion. We must now abandon the old language, the language of deadlock, and the language of violence. We have to move to the language of negotiation and peace. The architecture of peace is built not on wishes, but on principles, laws, and institutions. Words must be translated into action. What we need is to rebuild the thousand-year law of brotherhood today based on democratic principles, equality, and the values of freedom.”
Now it is the state’s turn
Hatimoğulları added: “In precisely such an atmosphere, I want to come to the very heart of the matter. We are three days away from the anniversary of the day on which Mr. Öcalan issued his Call for Peace and a Democratic Society. That day was one of the most important thresholds in the history of Turkey. It was the day when all taboos were broken, and the will for peace was expressed in the clearest, most straightforward, and strongest terms. The Kurdish political movement and Mr. Öcalan fulfilled the requirements of that moment. They did not leave the extended hand of peace hanging in the air, and they declared their will to silence the guns. Now it is the state’s turn. Just as the Kurdish side put forward a historic will for weapons to be taken out of the equation and for democratic politics to be made the basis, the state must, in response, clearly demonstrate that it seeks a solution not through security-centered methods, but in law, politics, and democratic arrangements.”
Mr. Öcalan’s status must be recognized
Hatimoğulları said: “So what should be done in this process? For lasting peace, Mr. Öcalan’s status must be recognized through a legal arrangement and placed under legal protection. This process must not remain at the level of rhetoric; legal regulations must be enacted swiftly under the roof of parliament. Peace for Kurds and democracy across Turkey must be put into practice without delay. Investigations targeting opposition figures must end immediately. The trustee system must come to an end. Respect for the will of the people and elected representatives must be upheld without interruption. Relations with Kurds must be taken out of the brackets of ‘terror’ and security and placed on the ground of equal citizenship and democratic partnership. The bond between the state and citizens must be built not on denial, but on recognition, justice, and an honorable peace. Political peace and social peace must be accompanied by economic peace. As we approach the anniversary of 27 February, not only declarations of good will, but concrete legal steps must be taken. This is what we expect.”
Let us build the new period together
Hatimoğulları concluded her remarks by saying: “Let us turn peace from something remembered on certain days into a functioning order. This has always been our proposal, and we are working on it. We are ready to put in even more effort. Let us build together a new period in which weapons are silenced forever and politics speak. Is there any path other than democratic politics? We will walk this path to the end. Because this country is ours. Because this country belongs to all of us. Because we want to live in this country. As the beloved poet Nazım said, ‘To live, to live like a tree, alone and free, and like a forest, in brotherhood.’”
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