Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas spoke at the Algerian Meeting Hall in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul on Sunday morning and met with religious leaders from the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek and Jewish communities in Turkey. Demirtas brought up recent aggressive statements by Celil Bayik, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and vice-chairman of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), mentioning that Bayik had said, "No matter what, we will not give up our guns." In a contrasting tone, Demirtas made the following comments: "We are working for lasting peace. Unlike other politicians, we will not say 'If such-and-such happens, we will take up arms.' Whatever happens, we will not resort to guns. As politicians, we are going to fight for a lasting peace without any recourse to guns. This is part of our presidential campaign. These are concrete indicators of our desire for peace and to live in union. I hope that the steps for a solution and peace will reach a more advanced and tangible level. This is obviously a common struggle for us all. We need not be hopeless and pessimistic. Peace is not an issue for one party or a government to monopolize. Peace is in the hands of the people and is something the people can accomplish; it is a process the people can build. As long as the people want peace, the process will not be disrupted." The presidential candidate continued: "I would say that the government owes an apology to the people of this land for the massacres, the [forced] migrations and the communities of Turkey who have suffered great losses. The state must recognize and compensate for what has happened to the Jews, the Assyrians, the Greeks and for the 'Armenian Genocide.' The manner and the content of such an apology by the government are important. That such an experience will never reoccur must be guaranteed. If we do not do this, no one can mention a lasting brotherhood in this land. The only way to live together with equal rights and equal status is to face the past in a friendly manner and settle our differences. The Republic of Turkey owes the Alevis, Kurds and Circassians of this land an apology." These comments are similar to Demirtas's statements on Saturday morning at the Roboski Museum and Memorial Place Architectural Design Competition Associates meeting. There, Demirtas said that he is a presidential candidate for 76 million people, referring to the entire population of the country, rather than one specific demographic. The meeting was held as a solidarity initiative for the Roboski airstrike -- also referred to as the Uludere massacre -- that took place on Dec. 28, 2011 when two Turkish F16 jets fired at a group of villagers near the Turkish-Iraqi border.