'We went to Qandil with knowledge, approval of Erdoğan,' says HDP Co-Chair

* Image: HDP

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After 13 police officers, soldiers and intelligence officers of Turkey lost their lives during a military operation in the Gare region in Iraq's north, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu said in a speech at the Parliament that one woman MP from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had gone there.

He has recently alleged that this MP was HDP Ağrı MP Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir. Shortly after this allegation was voiced in a TV program, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation against her for "being a member of an armed terrorist organization."

Taşdemir denied the allegations

HDP MP Taşdemir has shared a brief message on her Twitter account amid these allegations and ensuing investigation.

Taşdemir has said, "The Minister of Interior of this country made a statement giving my name, supposedly based on the accounts of a person. We will show that it is a big lie and slander."

Bu ülkenin İçişleri Bakanı güya bir kişinin anlatımlarına dayanarak ismimi veren bir açıklama yaptı. Bunun kocaman bir yalan ve iftira olduğunu göstereceğiz.

— DilanDirayetTaşdemir (@dilan_dirayet) February 20, 2021

Co-Chair: I will announce more on Tuesday

HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan has also shared a message about the TV program attended by Interior Minister Soylu.

Referring to the pictures shown during the program, Buldan has said that their pictures from the Qandil Mountains, a sanctuary and headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), were taken as part of their visits within the knowledge and with the approval of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the then Prime Minister and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair:

"All of the pictures that the Minister of Interior showed during the program that he attended last evening were the pictures of Qandil, where we went within the knowledge and with the approval of Erdoğan during the resolution process. I will announce more at our group meeting on Tuesday."

İçişleri Bakanının dün akşam katıldığı programda gösterdiği resimlerin tamamı çözüm sürecinde Erdoğan'ın bilgisi ve onayı ile gittiğimiz Kandil fotograflarıdır. Ben Salı günü grup toplantımızda daha fazlasını açıklayacağım.

— Pervin BULDAN (@PervinBuldan) February 21, 2021

Statement by HDP Central Executive Committee

Shortly after Buldan made this statement, the Central Executive Committee of the HDP has also released a statement reiterating that the visits to Qandil, a mountainous area of Iraqi Kurdistan near the Iraq-Iran border, were within the knowledge and approval of the government.

Arguing that Minister Süleyman Soylu is "waging a war for power against Erdoğan", the HDP has defined the statement of Soylu as "the last example of dirty politics," underlining that "he must, in fact, resign from office as the Minister of Interior over what has recently happened."

Noting that "the TV program full of lies and slanders has gone down in Turkey's history as a shame," the party has once again said that "there was not a single visit not made outside the knowledge of the government during the resolution process" between 2013 and 2015.

"In fact, every Qandil visit of the HDP was to represent the parties of the resolution process that could not go to Qandil," the HDP has said.

"Meetings were held with all ministers and state officials, primarily with President Erdoğan, and the opinions and recommendations of both İmralı and Qandil were conveyed to them," HDP has added, referring to meetings with Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK leader held in İmralı Prison.

The party has also denounced the portrayal of Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir as the "HDP MP who went to Gare."

Concluding its statement, the HDP has said that "Soylu is acting with the mind and methods taken over from the [Gülen] community."

"We would like to reiterate that the AKP government is politically responsible for what happened in Gare," the HDP has said.

What happened?

Turkey's Minister of National Defense announced that the Turkish Armed Forces launched the "Operation Claw Eagle 2" against the PKK in the Gare region on the night of February 10 at 2.55 a.m.

During the armed conflicts that ensued in the region, two soldiers lost their lives and four others were wounded. Making a statement on February 14, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar announced that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) concluded its "Operation Claw Eagle-2" in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq's north.

The dead bodies of 13 soldiers and police officers, taken hostages and held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), were reportedly found during a search in a cave in the mountainous Gare area.

Making a statement later on, Malatya Governor Baruş has said that these persons were kidnapped by the PKK in 2015 and 2016. (EMK/RT/SD)