What did the President speak with opinion leaders?

The Presidential Palace hosted a very important meeting yesterday.

The President welcomed 163 opinion leaders from 16 cities of the east and southeast.

This meeting was the first in a series of meetings planned to be held between the president and opinion leaders.

For those wondering what the agenda of the meeting was; it was certainly battling terrorism and the Kurdish reconciliation process.

The president used a phrase in the opening speech of the meeting. I would like to pay attention to this particularly, as this will reflect President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's perspective.

Because, by saying “If need be I am ready to drink hemlock poison,” Erdoğan proved that as the person initiating the reconciliation process he wasn't hesitant to battle terrorism when needed.

Besides, Erdoğan is a leader who has received a great amount of support from Kurds in the nine elections he entered. He is a person that founded “ bridges between souls.”

The president explains why he felt the need to arrange the meeting. He expressed that he wanted to find out what the opinion leaders were thinking about the problems in the region. “Consultation is very important in the solution of these problems for us” he said, adding that they will look for a solution through consultation and bringing shared wisdom about. The meeting is done within this perspective. The president made a short evaluation at the start of the meeting. He then gave the floor to the opinion leaders. The opinion leaders were chosen from among a wide range of names, including those supporting the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). To express it in the language of the region, those chosen were figures who will not hold off from expressing their “core idea.”

The president uses another phrase that encourages the opinion leaders. “As the people who live in the region, I specifically wanted to listen to what you had to say,” he said.

While I was writing this article, the president's meeting with the opinion leaders was still continuing. Thus, I would like to reflect President Erdoğan's evaluations.

Erdoğan expresses another perspective on the region. He says that they perceive the region not as the source of the problem, but as an inseparable part of the country that needs its problems solved.

I would like to underline his emphasis on the region not being the “source of the problem” and the president's plural statements. That is, instead of using “I am looking into” he uses “ We are looking into.” His statements reflect the Justice and Development Party's (AK Pary) perspective on the region and the Kurdish issue. He and his party are the architects of the reconciliation process.

The AK Party later reflected this perspective on its government policies. Therefore we say, “Choosing civil policies in the solution of Kurdish issues is an AK Party tale. The AK Party should look after its tale.”

The president recalls that the first thing they did when the AK Party came to power for the first time on Nov. 3, 2002, was to lift the state of emergency. Before the November 2002 elections, Erdoğan had asked the region what they wanted the most, and they had replied that they wanted the state of emergency lifted. When he came to power that was the first thing he did.

The AK Party acted from two wings in the solution of the Kurdish issue. The party did not disregard its service policy while developing civil policies and reconciliation processes to solve the issue. The president explains that they invested TL 260 billion in 13 years for this reason. That is 260 quadrillion according to old Turkish liras. This investment was made despite the PKK burning vehicles, abducting dam, road and airport construction workers, holding businessmen to ransom and even turning the region into a complete terror zone at times.

The president underlines that the region's most important need is employment. In other words, unemployment. He explains that investments need to be made in order for employment to occur. He adds that a great deal of airports, health services and roads have been completed in the past 13 years. Airports have been built and opened in Şırnak and Yüksekova despite the PKK burning down bulldozers. At this point the president underlines the magical word needed for employment and investment. A trust and peace environment needs to be developed in the region.

By all means, the greatest duty belongs to the government, but the president reminds the opinion leaders that they too need to undertake this responsibility to install an environment of trust.

“The latest incidents have put us into great sorrow, yet we will not give up our goals” says Erdoğan.

What are the indispensable goals?

Specifying that they exerted themselves in solving the Kurdish issue, Erdoğan explains the phases of the reconciliation process from a democratic reconciliation period to national solidarity and finally to its last phase; the reconciliation process.

He adds that they were nearly at the final stage of establishing the reconciliation process, yet, some people – the war barons in Qandil and figures effective on Qandil, turned the clock back. We can say that these figures are those who turned Syria into hell, and now dream of Turkey being in the same situation.

The president expresses that terrorism is always used as a tool, just as it is today. You may see this as a cliché, but he makes an evaluation at this point. He says that some choose terrorism to obtain power and others to continue their tutelages.

This sentence is very important: “No matter what happens, our efforts will prevent Turkey from returning back to the 1990s.”

Erdoğan makes a warning at this point. He says they believe terrorism cannot be combatted with only the efforts of security forces. He states that the unity and solidarity of the region is of vital importance in terms of battling terrorism. And adds that the problem will be solved with the people of the region protecting their will and peace.

The president touches upon the perception management issue too. He indicates that the terrorist organization is carrying out a perception management operation to terminate the reconciliation process.

“They are trying to blame the president and the government for the termination of the process. We are not the reason for the disruption of the process,” said the president.

After President Erdoğan's evaluations, the opinion leaders began to speak and express their views on the issues in the region. And what is the president doing at this point? He is taking notes in one of his very famous diaries.

If I could get a hold of one of those diaries, I can't imagine the agenda-shattering books I could write based on the notes within...