Demirtas: No new constitution in Turkey without Kurds

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (K24) — In a press conference on Wednesday in the major Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, Co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas said a new constitution without his party's support would fail in creating social compromise in Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cancelled a planned meeting last week with the HDP co-chairs Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. The sides were expected to hold talks on a new constitution for Turkey, something the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pushing for.

The current constitution of Turkey, ratified in 1982 by a popular vote, is considered a militaristic legacy of the 1980 coup d'état. Numerous governments have managed to amend parts of the constitution over decades. An entirely new constitution has long been a promise of the ruling AKP since its coming to power in late 2003.

"How will [a] new constitution be drafted when the Kurdish question is not being addressed? How will a social compromise be achieved under so much oppression, threats, heavy violations of rights?" asked Demirtas at his party's local headquarters as sounds of warplanes flying over Diyarbakir were heard.

An HDP predecessor, the dissolved Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) which Demirtas was an MP of, boycotted a Turkish constitutional referendum in 2010 because it failed to recognize Kurdish identity and language.

Mentioning an investigation launched into his remarks on Kurdish self-rule in Turkey, Demirtas said, "they [Turkish authorities] get goose bumps when I utter the word Kurdistan. What was the flag next to [Masoud] Barzani, when he came [to Turkey]? It was the flag of the Federal State of Kurdistan [sic]. Why do you get goose bumps when I tell you that Kurds have a state in the Middle East? They have cantons in Rojava. If I tell you that there should be 150 Turkish states, they [Turkish officials] will applaud me but [if I say] Kurds should have a tent [of their own] they would probably kill me [me]."

Demirtas reiterated HDP's support for a renewal of ceasefire and peace talks to stop the bloodshed between the Turkish Army, police, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Warring parties have been locked in urban clashes in several Kurdish towns for months. Demirtas said his party was ready to negotiate between the sides and help Turkey move forward.

(Kamaran Haji Omer and Siddiq Eren contributed to this report from Diyarbakir)