Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said in his opening speech at the second meeting of the commission, “This is a great opportunity that must be seized.”
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş spoke at the opening of the second meeting of the ‘National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission’ established in Parliament to come up with a democratic resolution to the Kurdish question.
Remarking that the commission is a historic step and a great opportunity that must be seized, Kurtulmuş stated the following:
“The commission has a historic duty to establish an environment where peace and brotherhood are discussed, rather than weapons, fighting, and conflict. It is a success that we have accepted the articles by the joint votes of the members of parliament and the alliance. The first button has been buttoned correctly.
I believe that the spirit of alliance demonstrated here with regard to the implementation of the decisions that will be taken in the negotiations is important. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all the political party leaders who supported this process prior to the meeting and to everyone who has contributed to this effort.
We must take very careful steps to ensure that this opportunity is seized. We must express our views very clearly. Ultimately, the commission in this hall, which represents the nation, is a group that represents 98 percent of Turkey. Therefore, we must conduct this process with the utmost sensitivity, attention, and care to meet the opinions and expectations of the people. There will be sessions with very open and tough discussions, but all of these will result in strengthening Turkey’s unity and solidarity, which is our common goal.
Almost everyone in Turkey is watching this commission closely. Any agreement or understanding that emerges here will satisfy the vast majority of Turkey’s people. The main reason for the establishment of this commission is that, following the statement from İmralı, the organization has accepted to lay down its arms, dissolve itself, and present this, and that the Parliament should also engage in the process, prepare for it, and, of course, send its decisions to the general assembly for approval regarding how the legal regulations that will emerge alongside this process will be implemented.”
The main reason for the establishment of this commission is that the Parliament should also be involved in the process to determine how legal regulations will be made, make preparations and submit its decisions to the general assembly after the organization agreed to lay down its arms, dissolve itself, and put this decision into practice following an appeal from İmralı.”
Kurtulmuş then put whether the meeting should be closed to a vote. The commission members unanimously accepted the request.
Kurtulmuş said: “The proceedings here will be recorded in full. However, they will never be published. They will not be made available even to the commission members for a period of 10 years. Nothing discussed at this meeting will be mentioned outside these walls in any way.”
The commission meeting then continued in closed session.
