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Turkey's Gul urges unity in Kurdish
southeast region
12.9.2007 |
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September 12, 2007
Diyarbakir, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, -- Turkey's new president, Abdullah Gul,
called for national unity and solidarity on
Wednesday during his first trip as head of state to
the country's troubled, mainly Kurdish southeast
region.
Choosing the impoverished southeast for his first
visit outside Ankara since his election by
parliament last month, Gul seemed keen to show the
Kurds they are valued and respected by a state they
often accuse of neglecting or repressing them.
"If we can strengthen our unity, the brotherly
feelings among us, everything will be better... Then
you will see, the years of neglect will soon pass,"
Gul told cheering crowds in the town of Yuksekova
near the Iraqi Kurdistan border.
Residents hurled roses at his motorcade -- his
surname means 'rose' in Turkish -- in a sign of
welcome, although security was also very tight. The
region remains dogged by Kurdish separatist violence
and the army keeps a high profile.
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Turkish president Abdullah Gül |
Gul's ruling centre-right AK Party performed well in
July elections in the southeast, beating the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) into
second place in some areas.
Many Kurds hope the AK Party government will help
boost investment and public services in the region,
Turkey's poorest.
The AK Party government, in which Gul previously
served as foreign minister, has also championed
European Union reforms, easing some restrictions on
the Kurdish language and culture.
The government, not the president, makes economic
and social policy in Turkey. But the president
carries great moral weight and can help set the tone
for policy. Gul, 56, is also a close ally of Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
The region's economy has suffered greatly from
separatist violence waged by the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK).
More than 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. Turkey is home to over
25 million ethnic Kurds.
Reuters
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Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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