Citizens stressed the country’s urgent need for peace and called on the state to take immediate action, urging the commission to meet with Abdullah Öcalan as soon as possible.
Reacting to reports that Kurdish students were made to recite nationalist poems in schools, Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim Sen) Wan (Van) Co-Chair Murat Atabay said the education system promotes the idea that “Turkishness is the superior identity” and that children’s mother tongues are inferior.
People’s Defense Forces (Hêzên Parastina Gel-HPG) member Çeko Ayhan, who was among the guerrillas withdrawing from the field, emphasized that resolving the Kurdish issue requires the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and the constitutional recognition of Kurdish rights. “We want to engage in politics on a free ground,” he said.
Journalist and writer Hüseyin Aykol, who was placed on a ventilator after suffering a brain hemorrhage, remains in critical condition as a lung infection shows no significant improvement, his doctor said.
Tuncer Bakırhan said the second stage is the legal steps and called on the state to fulfil its duties. Tülay Hatimoğulları said democratic integration is the key to a democratic republic.
Human rights defender Ahmet Faruk Ünsal said that the legal and constitutional barriers causing the Kurdish question must be removed, and emphasized that Abdullah Öcalan’s conditions should evolve into those befitting a negotiator in the ongoing peace process.
Eren Keskin, evaluating the withdrawal of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, stated that legal regulations should be implemented as soon as possible and said, "It is the state itself that needs to take a step."
Evaluating the Kurdish Freedom Movement's decision to withdraw its forces in Turkey as "crossing a strategic threshold in the peace process", journalist Engin Yurtsever said: "Steps are constantly being taken by the Kurdish side, but the state is still not taking the necessary steps."
Speaking at a press event in Qandil, Devrim Palu, a member of the HPG (People’s Defense Forces) Command Council, emphasized the importance of democratic politics, saying, “We are not in love with weapons.” Palu noted that “if more favorable conditions are created, this withdrawal can be carried out more smoothly.”
Responding to questions after the press statement, KCK Executive Council Member Sabri Ok said, “Thanks to Leader Öcalan’s tremendous efforts, we are at a very important stage. There could be some special laws and amendments specific to this.”
The leadership of the Kurdish Freedom Movement announced that they have started to withdraw all their forces in Turkey with the approval of Abdullah Öcalan. The statement stressed legal and poltiical approaches should be taken without delay.
Commenting on the "girls' secondary schools" as a violation of children's rights and a part of the policy of attacking women, Filiz Eraslan, Secretary of Eğitim Sen İzmir Branch No. 2, said: "These are manoeuvres for child marriage, child labour, child abuse, compulsory education and the constant change of the age of education."
While 2 people were rescued from the refugee boat sinking off the coast of Bodrum district of Mugla, 14 refugees lost their lives. The search for 2 refugees continues.
In Heftexar village of Daquq district of Kirkuk, Arab migrants tried to enter Kurdish farmers' lands with the support of Iraqi army and police forces.
The resistance of 223 workers dismissed from their jobs by the Wan (Van) Metropolitan Municipality under the kayyum (trustee) administration continued on its 85th day. Workers once again said: "We will not give way to the kayyum and the rent-seekers".