President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remark about a “triple alliance” between the AKP, MHP, and DEM Party has drawn a sharp rebuke from DEM Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları, who said the comment misrepresented the party’s role in the ongoing disarmament process.
“There is no such alliance at all,” Hatimoğulları told Halk TV. “We are not walking with any party. We are walking this path with the state.”
Her remarks came after Erdoğan said during the AKP’s Kızılcahamam camp: “We have decided to walk this path as AKP, MHP, and DEM as a trio.” Hatimoğulları countered that reducing the peace efforts to a partisan alignment risks undermining the process. “Talking about alliances instead of focusing on the historic disarmament in Sulaymaniyah shows that some are intent on derailing this process,” she said.
She also stressed that neither Erdoğan nor his party’s spokesperson had made an official alliance proposal. “We are not a party to be fooled or deceived,” she added.
Addressing the constitutional reform debate — which could include provisions extending Erdoğan’s term in presidency — Hatimoğulları warned against linking the peace process with electoral strategies. “Either early elections or constitutional amendments are needed, but merging the two will damage the peace process,” she said. While the DEM Party is not currently engaged in constitutional talks, she emphasized the need to “clear the road” by lifting political pressure on the main opposition CHP and ending the practice of appointing government trustees to replace elected mayors.
Hatimoğulları also said members of the PKK are expressing a desire to return to Turkey and enter civilian political life. “Those who have held weapons until today say they want to do politics on the ground. Legal arrangements must be made to allow this.”
