There should be no discussion in Turkey about the role of the HDP as a legitimate political actor, T24 news site cited Mithat Sancar as saying, adding that Turkish Parliament was the address for the solution of the decades-old Kurdish problem.

Turkey since 1984 has been locked in a struggle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey. Over 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the conflict that has spilled across Turkish borders.

“If the priority is a political solution, then we believe the main address for it should be the Turkish Grand Assembly,’’ the HDP co-chairman said. “As such, all actors of the Kurdish problem should be included.’’

The HDP, Turkey’s second-largest opposition party, is accused of being a center of activity for the outlawed PKK, a charge the party denies. HDP is currently facing a closure case over terror links amid a years-long government crackdown on the party. Several of the HDP’s leading figures, including former co-chair and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas are currently imprisoned on terrorism charges.

The HDP should be recognized as a ‘’legitimate addressee’’ in Turkey’s Kurdish problem, Karar newspaper cited Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu as saying on Sunday.

''Kilicdaroglu’s remarks could create a positive effect on account of reviving a discussion that should have been left behind, but has been suppressed for some time,’’ Sancar said.

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