Speaking to ANF about the so-called “democratisation package” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan unveiled on 30 September, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-President Cemil Bayık said that the ruling AKP government has wasted its last chance by having a sabotaging attitude towards the process in search of a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.

Any package not addressing itself to Kurds is an empty package in essence, Bayık said and pointed out that the AKP government has been acting as if there was no process initiated by the Kurdish freedom movement.

Reminding the fact that the non-conflict environment in the country has been achieved as a result of İmralı talks, Bayık added that; “In the scope of the three-phased solution plan presented at the İmralı talks, the Kurdish side has unhesitatingly done its part in the first and second phases,The government has however taken no steps within this process, which is why the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) proposed the suspension of the withdrawal during its 11th Congress and the KCK approved the proposal and put this decision into practice. The democratisation package has revealed how right the PKK was to halt the withdrawal of guerrillas”.

Bayık underlined that the process could advance only by taking mutual steps and stated that the government must pay regard to the Kurdish side if it has an intention to bring the Kurdish issue to a solution. “Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan must be provided with conditions necessary for the initiation of negotiations as it will otherwise mean the interruption of the process by the government”, he added.

As a matter of fact, there is no resolution process going on in the given circumstances, Bayık said and noted that the Kurdish freedom movement will do what is necessary in the event that the government fails to practice the three proposals Öcalan has put forward to keep the process going.

Bayık pointed out that the package did not recognize the will of Kurds nor considered them to be a primal society among the founders of the Republic in Turkey.

Referring to the provision of mother tongue education at private schools, Bayık said this meant treatment of Kurdish language as a foreign language without a vital and functional role due to the denial of its use in public sphere.

Bayık underlined that the package didn't serve a solution to the Kurdish question but that it on the contrary covered up the already existing deadlock and the old exploitative policies aimed at cultural genocide.

KCK executive said the package has made AKP's attitude towards the Kurdish issue clearer, adding that “Either the government show its will for a solution or Kurds will adopt a new way of struggle”.