“It has been decided that the meeting will be held under the principle of full confidentiality,” Numan Kurtulmus said, announcing the majority vote by committee members to keep the commission’s proceedings private during its second official session.
“The discussions here will be fully recorded in the minutes but will not be made public,” Kurtulmus said. “These records will not be given to anyone, including members of the commission, for a certain period - 10 years.”
The commission was created as part of peace negotiations to end four decades of conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK. Its members include representatives from most of the political parties in the parliament.
Friday’s meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, National Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and National Intelligence Organization chief Ibrahim Kalin.
Kurtulmus said the commission’s work is “historic” and aims to replace “arms, fighting, and conflict” with “peace, brotherhood, and well-being.”
“We must take our steps very carefully, we must express our views very clearly,” he said. “We must conduct the process with sensitivity, care, and attention to meet the nation’s opinions and expectations.”
Zekeriya Yapicioglu, leader of the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda Par), told Rudaw on Monday that the commission is not a decision-making body, but it drafts proposals and is a place for dialogue.
“There needs to be give and take between all parties, but some parties close their doors to negotiations. So far, no negotiations have taken place between us and the DEM Party,” Yapicioglu said, referring to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) that has mediated talks between the state and jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.
The ultranationalist IYI Party has refused to join the commission.
The PKK held a ceremonial disarmament in the Kurdistan Region on July 11, when 30 members and commanders burned their weapons, acting on Ocalan’s call to abandon their armed struggle and pursue a political solution to secure Kurdish rights in Turkey.
