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Turkish PM refuses to convene with DTP
party unless they label PKK "terrorist"
14.3.2008
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Turkish PM says Kurd MPs must call Kurdish PKK
rebels "terrorists"
March 14, 2008
ANKARA,-- Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan said on Thursday he would only meet leaders
of a pro-Kurdish DTP party represented in Turkish
parliament if they agreed to recognize Turkey's
Kurdish PKK guerrillas as "terrorists."
The Democratic Society Party (DTP) campaigns for
more freedoms and autonomy for Turkey's large ethnic
Kurdish minority but is also believed to have close
links to the PKK militants, who have been battling
Turkish troops for more than two decades.
"As the prime minister of the Turkish Republic, I
cannot meet the DTP, which sits under parliament's
roof,www.ekurd.net
as long as they do not
recognize the separatist PKK as a terrorist
organization," Erdogan said in televised remarks. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
The DTP, which has 20
members of parliament, has always refused to condemn
the PKK but the party says it wants a peaceful,
democratic resolution of the Kurdish issue in
Turkey.
DTP leaders have held talks in recent days with
President Abdullah Gul, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil
Cicek and the speaker of Turkey's parliament, Koksal
Toptan. They especially urged the gently-spoken Gul
to play an active role on the Kurdish issue.
But Erdogan accused the DTP of promoting ethnic
nationalism and said they could not claim to
represent Turkey's estimated 20 million Kurds or the
southeast region where many of them live.
Private broadcaster CNN Turk quoted the DTP as
saying Erdogan's latest comments would stir tensions
in society.
In last year's parliamentary elections, Erdogan's
ruling centre-right, pro-business AK Party received
the support of many voters in the southeast who are
weary of PKK-related conflict and want a share in
Turkey's rising living standards.
The AK Party hopes to wrest control of key cities
such as Diyarbakir from the DTP in municipal
elections due in 2009.
This week, Erdogan said his government would invest
up to $12 billion in southeast Turkey over a
five-year period in an effort to drain support for
the PKK. It would also allow a state television
channel to broadcast in the Kurdish language.
A mini survey among Turkey's prominent Kurdish
personalities showed that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plan to
introduce a broad series of investments worth as much as
$12 billion in the country's largely
Kurdish southeast to create jobs and draw young men
away from militancy "will not do the trick on its
own."
The DTP sources said they feel while a massive
economic package could help the people of the region
it will not solve the overall problem if they are
not supported by proper political,www.ekurd.net
cultural and
social measures.
DTP deputies said their
contacts with the president and the parliament
speaker showed that Ankara is not ready for any
genuine political and social openings on the Kurdish
issue.
The EU, which Turkey hopes to join, has long urged
Ankara to remove restrictions on the Kurdish
language and culture.
Many Kurds have pinned their hopes on Turkey's push
to join the European Union, which has said Ankara's
treatment of the Kurds will be a key factor in its
decision on whether to accept the country. But that
process could take at least a decade and Kurdish
frustration is growing.
Over 39,000 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. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
Thousands of Turkish troops, backed by tanks,
attack helicopters and warplanes,
crossed into Kurdistan region in northern
Iraq on February 21 in an operation which Ankara said was aimed at Turkey's Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas and their bases.
Turkey rejects direct talks with Iraqi Kurdistan
government, Officially, Turkey does not recognise
the regional government of Kurdistan led by
president Massoud Barzani.
Turkey has never, and still does not, recognize the
Kurdistan region government (KRG) and refuses to
meet with its representatives in any official
capacity. That reflects Ankara's fear that any
international respect shown to the autonomous Iraqi
Kurdistan region would only embolden Turkey's own
large Kurdish minority to seek similar home-rule
status.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
the Ankara, U.S. and the EU.
Information for this report was provided by
Reuters | AFP | thenewanatolian com | Agencies
AFP | Agencies
**
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 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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