Gov't, HDP shouldn't be in the same picture, says Turkish president

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said he did not approve of a meeting and joint press conference between the government and the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) at Istanbul?s Dolmabahçe Palace on Feb. 28, which was presented as a turning point in the Kurdish peace process.

?I personally do not find it right that the government?s deputy prime minister and a group that is currently in parliament took a picture side by side,? said Erdo?an.

During the meeting, it emerged that the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, had called for the outlawed group to hold a congress in spring to discuss disarmament in Turkey.

Erdo?an said that previously in such cases, a member of the government would hold meetings with the HDP and then a statement would be announced, noting that never before had two different statements been read together before the press.

The president also said a 10-article statement from Öcalan that was read out during Nevruz in Diyarbak?r on March 21 did not contain a call for democracy.

?If we look into the text, one can see that most of the topics there do not have anything to do with democracy. There are still new demands arising,? said Erdo?an.

During the Feb. 28 joint press conference, the HDP?s S?rr? Süreyya Önder read a list of 10 articles, where Öcalan?s priorities were summarized. These articles included the definition and content of democratic politics, the definition of the national and local dimensions of a democratic solution, the legal and democratic guarantees of free citizenship, relations between state and society, how these issues will be institutionalized, as well as the socio-economic dimensions of the resolution process.

Handling democracy...