That's perhaps because opposition party leaders in Turkey often choose to reject meetings with government leaders on the issues they oppose; they do not even give themselves a chance to explain to the government the reasons for their opposition. Now that Baykal has accepted Erdoğan's request for a meeting, everyone is discussing whether this meeting will contribute to the government's Kurdish initiative because Baykal has already made it clear that his party is against the initiative. It can be said that there is a blend of both hope and pessimism regarding this meeting in Turkey because the meeting, to a certain extent, will influence the Kurdish initiative.Looking at the atmosphere created by the CHP, Zaman's Mustafa Ünal says the meeting between Erdoğan and Baykal will be more like a duel as the winds blowing from the CHP front are very strong and mutual outbursts have already begun between the parties. “This political environment can place the Erdoğan-Baykal meeting in a tough situation,” says Ünal. In his view, while accepting Erdoğan's request for a meeting, Baykal does his best to prevent this meeting from taking place, which the atmosphere in his party illustrates.
Sabah's Nazlı Ilıcak has good feelings about the Erdoğan-Baykal meeting and says the meeting could lead to positive developments concerning the Kurdish initiative if both politicians act like statesmen and do not make political calculations. Ilıcak's optimism comes from Baykal's attachment of two reports prepared earlier by the CHP on the Kurdish problem to his reply letter to Erdoğan. The content of those reports, says Ilıcak, includes legal and constitutional amendments to solve the Kurdish issue, and there could be education in Kurdish at private schools. “These reports indicate that Baykal says ‘yes' to both constitutional amendments and education in the mother tongue. The leaders will of course talk about these issues and set the framework. Hence, I am hopeful about this meeting,” remarks Ilıcak.
Star's Mustafa Karaalioğlu is very pessimistic about the outcome of this meeting as he finds Baykal's letter, its patronizing tone and Baykal's clear mention of his party's opposition to the Kurdish initiative very irritating. “With this unfortunate letter, Baykal assumed responsibility for the blood that will be spilled. There is neither a Kurdish problem nor a democracy problem for him. His only concern is to gain several more points in the upcoming elections with the calculations he made at his desk. By the time his calculations are revealed to be wrong, it will be very late, but I hope Baykal will have sufficient time to repent for his sins in the conscience of the public,” says Karaalioğlu. Regarding Erdoğan's attitude in controlling his annoyance in the wake of Baykal's irritating letter, he says this is a very useful attitude for the development of a culture of democratization in the country as well as for the development of the Kurdish initiative.
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