Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered questions from SABAH Columnist Mehmet Barlas as well as journalists Nermin Yurteli, Nazlı Öztarhan and Erhan Ertürk on a live broadcast on NTV.
TIMING IS IMPORTANT IN NEGOTIATIONS: "This instrument is in our hands, and we will use it whenever necessary. We could do this in Oslo, or in İmralı. Our intelligence service will exchange ideas with whoever it needs to in order to reach a solution. This could be certain branches of the organization from time to time, or it could be intelligence organizations that have experience with this situation.
OSLO WAS A CONCRETE STEP: A cease-fire is not sufficient. The PKK must completely disarm itself. If our colleagues went to İmralı (to speak with the PKK leader) or to Oslo then those were the most concrete steps made to reach a solution.
A LESSON FOR TERRORISM: Connections with the terrorist organization were always individual. They are now trying to establish control of a region. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempt. Our soldiers have taught them the lesson they needed to learn.
POLITICAL EXTENSIONS: How could we speak with those who are on close terms with terrorism? I said the fight against terrorism should be conducted by negotiations with political extensions. However, they go and embrace terrorists, even kiss them and then talk about negotiations. How can I speak with a co-chair that has been cheek to cheek with terrorists?
(In regards to the deputy facing ongoing proceedings)Their place is not in the parliament. They should be in Kandil. We cannot conduct the parliament under the same umbrella with them.
I AM AGAINST CLOSING DOWN PARTIES: I am against the closing down of parties. When we tried to deal with this issue in the constitution, they were not there with us. Whoever is committing the crime needs to pay the price.
THE WEST DOES NOT WANT US TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE: There may be some that do not want us to solve this issue (terrorism). The West would be the first. The West does not want us to solve this issue. I am saying honestly, Germany and France does not want this and they are not helping us. Quite the contrary they allow terrorist leaders free access. They are providing their financial sources. Scandinavian countries are harboring them. One the one hand, the EU calls them a separatist terrorist organization; meanwhile their representatives are able to walk around freely swinging their arms while creating billions of euros in resources for them. We see this and we tell them about it, however we are unable to reap results and there is no international establishment that can get results."
