The reconciliation process has turned into a phoenix that rises from the ashes each time.

The Oct. 6-8 incidents were the most severe blow dealt to the reconciliation process.

The process was left staggering but was not knocked out.

The peace train was put back on track despite the Paris assassinations and the Oct.6-8 incidents.

This country has been bleeding copiously for 30 years.    

But it only says “peace” every time it opens its mouth. But whenever peace is faced with serious threats, we see that the language used changes within 24 hours and the calls for war start growing.

This was one of the aspects that hurt me most during the process of Oct. 6-8.

For 30 years flowers aren’t being planted on this country’s mountains. We keep burying bodies wrapped in the Turkish flag.

Poisonous language was being used that resulted in saying “peace if only to spite you.”

There were times when I said peace has a lifespan of 24 hours in this country.

But many times I believed that peace is not something to be given up on easily.

But peace is also not something that can be attained easily.

The meeting between the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) delegation and Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, who is responsible for the reconciliation process, after the Oct. 6-8 incidents is important in this regard.

This showed us that the table on which talks are being held is solid and none of its legs are wobbling.

The ground for dialogue was re-established.

The shuttle diplomacy carried out by Hakan Fidan, the undersecretary of MİT (National Intelligence Organization), played a vital role in ending this impasse.

I spoke with Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan following his meeting with the HDP delegation.

He said the meeting went smoothly and a positive climate was created in the search for a solution.

“Technical details were not discussed. Mr. prime minister’s return will be awaited,” he said.

Yalçın Akdoğan underlined some points:

1-It is important that channels of dialogue are being re-established.

2-The primary groundwork constitutes the reinstitution in all its dimensions of the desistance from illegal activities.  

There was something else that is very important and was underlined by Yalçın Akdoğan. It was one of the factors that allowed the reconciliation process to remain alive despite all the attacks and sabotage attempts against it.

“The reconciliation process is local. This makes it valuable,” said Akdoğan.

The process that started during Turgut Özal’s tenure had Jalal Talabani as a mediator. Abdullah Öcalan had announced a unilateral ceasefire to display his good intentions. Even that proved enough for a solution to be sabotaged in a bloody manner.

Thirty-three of our privates were martyred in Bingöl. The process came to an end and war commenced.

When another process began with the United Kingdom acting as an observer and Norway as the host country for talks, Qandil (the mountain base of the PKK in northern Iraq) was at the table and Öcalan was in the background. The process was sabotaged with the leak of the Oslo documents and the raids in Silvan and Reşadiye.

Both these attempts for peace ended with far more violent wars.

The ongoing process that we find ourselves in the midst of was launched in the light of experiences gained from the previous two processes. This was a “national” process where Öcalan was directly involved and no third country was included. It is a process that began very strongly but couldn’t gather enough wind in its sails due to Gezi, the Dec. 17 and 25 coup attempts, and local and presidential elections.

The Syria conjecture created an atmosphere favorable to war rather than the implementation of a peace project.

The process has managed to survive despite being implemented at a very unsuitable time due to conjectural reasons, the Paris assassinations, and the Oct. 6-8 incidents.

We find ourselves in a situation where we need to speed up this process at this stage after taking into account the United States’ aim of seizing the initiative and including itself in the process as an “observer.”

A time table will be discussed upon Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s return. Ankara has become aware that the process runs the risk of getting infected if the wound is left gaping and microbes are allowed to fester in it.

Let me restate that we might witness the speeding up of the process if no sabotage attempt is made against it by the United States-Qandil alliance.

Following the meeting yesterday between Yalçın Akdoğan and the HDP delegation, what had been called public order until recently is now being termed as “the implementation in all dimensions of the desistance from illegal activities.” This means that the process will continue at speed in the event that an end is put to the PKK’s blocking of roads in the middle of the night, the starting of fires by groups covering their faces with scarves, extortion, and the threat of violence and guns in the region.

The government maintains its stance on the subject of the PKK’s withdrawal of its forces. Withdraw your armed elements from Turkey regardless of where you withdraw them to.

It is being said that Öcalan is working on this topic. Based on what is being said, it is expected that a model for this withdrawal will be revealed in December.

The state expects that the PKK will announce that it has renounced the use of arms after that, and the state will take steps toward normalization.

In the coming days, important developments will take place concerning the reconciliation process of course.

-The number of the people in the İmralı (the prison island where Öcalan is serving a life sentence) delegation will be increased.

-Öcalan will be allowed to establish a secretariat in order to make a stronger contribution to the reconciliation process.

-The convicts in İmralı will be replaced.

Let us now come to the “observer”…

Ankara resisted against a third country becoming an observer, despite the United States wanting to be an observer and Cemil Bayık applying pressure for the United States to be made an observer.

An observer will be chosen from amongst the committee of wise men.

This means that “the observer will be a national observer” and as a result the national process will get a national observer.