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Turkey's Pro-Kurdish groups call for talks
31.10.2009
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October
31, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey, — The pro-Kurdish Democratic
Society Party (DTP) on Friday asked the ruling party
in Ankara to hold talks following accusations they
were undermining reconciliation.
Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the
outlawed Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK,
called on his supporters to form so-called peace
groups and surrender to Turkish authorities as part
of a broader reconciliation effort.
The returns provoked an outcry from the ruling
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and members
of the public over jubilant celebrations welcoming
the peace groups.
Ankara as a result halted plans for additional
returns from PKK members in European countries.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay criticized the
pro-Kurdish party for its response to the returns,www.ekurd.netsaying
they have "deteriorated the process," Turkish daily
Hurriyet reports.
Ankara moved forward earlier this year with a series
of concessions for the Kurdish minority in an effort
to find a political solution to the so-called
Kurdish question.
Kurdish leaders in a written statement said it was
time for AKP to discuss the situation with members
of the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, the report
said.
"You need to start dialogue with the DTP," the
statement read. "Let's move the process forward with
mutual steps."
Since 1984 the PKK took up arms
for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of
Turkey (Turkey-Kurdistan) which has claimed around
45,000 lives of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas. A large Turkey's Kurdish
community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels. Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish
population as a distinct minority.
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,www.ekurd.net
the party also demanded an end to ethnic
discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution
against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians
say the measures fall short of their expectations.
The clashes late on Monday in a remote region in
eastern Turkey came days after a group of PKK rebels
surrendered
after returning from neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan
region to support Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's
reform process.
Operations against the PKK continued on Tuesday, and
the army had deployed more soldiers, backed by
helicopter gunships to the region,www.ekurd.netmilitary
sources said on condition their names were not used.
Erdogan in July launched his so-called Kurdish
initiative, backed by the European Union, which
calls for expanding political and cultural rights
for the country's estimated 20 million Kurds.
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