December 2, 2009
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, — Members of the Turkey Kurdistan Workers'
Party residing in Iraqi Kurdistan refugee camps will
not return to Turkey until conditions are
satisfactory, representatives said.
Ankara is embarking on a plan to find a political
solution to lingering issues with the Kurdish
minority. Its plans involve cultural considerations
for Kurds and modest amnesty offers for rebels with
the Kurdistan Workers' Party,www.ekurd.netor
PKK.
Ankara laid out plans to start accepting Kurdish
refugees into Turkey in groups of 300 to 400 from
the Makhmour refugee camp in northern Iraq.
Gulbahar Cicekci, a representative for the PKK, said
statements on cultural concessions from Ankara were
not enough to address their concerns, Turkey's
leading English-language daily Today's Zaman
reports.
"No one can come back (to Turkey) before providing
necessary constitutional and safety conditions, such
as schooling in one's mother tongue," he said.
The United Nations established the Makhmour refugee
camp in 1998 in response to violence in southern
Turkey.
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 Kurdish question cannot be resolved without
recognizing the will of the Kurdish people and
holding dialogue with its interlocutors," the group
said.
The PKK has long called on Ankara to halt military
operations and agree to negotiations for a solution,
which it says should include official recognition of
the country's Kurds in the constitution.
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 government categorically rejects dialogue with a
group it labels a terrorist organization and says it
will not let up on the military campaign against the
rebels. 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 European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has
praised Erdogan's efforts to end the conflict. His
so-called democratic initiative aims to expand
cultural and political liberties to address decades
of grievances from Kurds who say they have faced
state-sanctioned discrimination and violence.
It has gone from seeking full independence for the
Kurdish region to calling for regional autonomy and
better cultural rights for Kurds.
Ankara has recently announced measures aimed at
improving Kurdish rights in the hope of undermining
support for the party.
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