Title: DEM Co-Leader: Guaranteeing Peace Means Making the Process Irreversible

**Article:** After Turkey’s new framework law on a potential peace process, all eyes have turned to its implementation. In an exclusive interview, Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, answered questions on key topics ranging from the lessons of 2015 to the need for concrete guarantees. Hatimoğulları stressed that a genuine peace effort cannot rely on promises alone. She argued that the government must take steps that make the process “irreversible,” meaning that a return to conflict becomes structurally impossible. She pointed to the failed 2015 peace talks as a warning. According to her, that experience showed how quickly dialogue can collapse without strong safeguards. The current process, she said, needs clearer legal and political protections. The co-chair also criticized what she called the “security-first” mindset of the state. She argued that this approach prioritizes control over reconciliation, which undermines public trust in peace efforts. Finally, Hatimoğulları called for “socializing peace.” She said that lasting stability requires more than elite negotiations—it requires involving ordinary citizens, civil society, and local communities in the process. Without broad public ownership, she warned, any agreement would remain fragile.