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Turkish PM promises more democracy for
Kurds after deadly riots
4.4.2006
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ANKARA, April 4,
2006 (AFP) - 10h44 - Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
Tuesday pledged more democracy and prosperity for
Turkey's troubled Kurdish minority after deadly
riots that raised fears of renewed ethnic conflict
in the country.
Erdogan rejected any dialogue with the main Kurdish
political group, the Democratic Society Party (DTP),
until it openly condemns separatist Kurdish rebels
fighting the government as terrorists.
The government has accused the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara,
the European Union and the United States, of
orchestrating the riots that claimed 15 lives during
the past week.
"While they try to capitalize on hatred and enmity,
we will build more roads, more hospitals, more
schools and more workplaces" in the southeast,
Erdogan said in a speech in parliament to deputies
of his Justice and Development Party.
"We will not back down from justice and democracy,"
he said. "We will bring more freedoms, more
democracy, more welfare, more rights and justice."
The Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 37,000
lives since 1984, when the PKK took up arms for
self-rule in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
The region enjoyed relative calm in recent years
after the PKK declared a unilateral truce in 1999
and Ankara, under EU pressure, granted the Kurds a
number of cultural rights, lifted emergency rule in
the region and began compensating villagers who had
suffered in the conflict.
Kurdish politicians, however, say the reforms were
half-hearted moves to please the EU and demanded
broader political and cultural rights.
Tensions have been on the rise since June 2004, when
the PKK ended its five-year ceasefire.
Erdogan turned down a request by the head of the DTP
for an appointment to discuss the Kurdish question.
"First, you should come out and declare that the PKK
terrorist organization is a terrorist organization,"
he said. "Then we can speak."
Several DTP officials, one already under arrest,
have been accused of encouraging the unrest in line
with PKK appeals for civil disobedience.
"You are protecting the murderers and even
presenting them as martyrs, and then you are asking
for an appointment from the prime minister. ... This
cannot be," Erdogan said to loud applause.
He expressed sorrow at the deaths of three boys
during the riots, in which, officials say, children
were deliberately pushed to the frontline.
"I call on all our people to show caution, firmness
and dignity," Erdogan said. "These will be our most
powerful weapons in foiling these provocations."
AFP
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