Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Kurdish parties are trying to "silence" the independent Kurdish MP Leyla Zana, according to CNN Turk.
Erdogan made the remark during the fourth organizational conference of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Kurdish dominated Van city.

The PM criticized the Kurdish-issue-centered Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for objecting to the recent meeting between Erdogan and Zana.

Erdogan said the meeting was over solving the Kurdish issue but both BDP and PKK issued provocative statements after this meeting.

"They are trying to silence Zana," Erdogan said.

He compared BDP with the Republican People's Party (CHP), saying "in the same way CHP wants to be the only party, BDP also wants to be the only party.

"They [BDP] say we are party of Kurds but in the same way that CHP destroyed democracy in Dersim, today BDP is also doing the same thing."

The Dersim Massacre took place in 1937 and 1938 in Dersim, now called Tunceli province. A military campaign against the Dersim Rebellion by local ethnic minority groups against Turkey's Resettlement Law of 1934 claimed the lives of thousands of Shiite Alevis and Zazas of Kurdish origin.

Before meeting with Erdogan, Zana had told the Turkish media that the PM can resolve the Kurdish issue.

Following the meeting, Murat Qaraylan who leads the PKK-related Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) said the Kurdish issue cannot be settled by a single Kurdish politician and expecting a positive outcome from this meeting is not realistic.











AKnews