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Turkish leader urges Kurdish PKK rebels to
give up guns
27.8.2010 |
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August
27, 2010
YUNAK, Turkey, —
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Thursday
urged the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to give up
their weapons.
Davutoglu refused to respond in detail to an
opposition leader's suggestion that the party, known
by its Turkish acronym PKK, would receive a general
amnesty in return, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People's Party
or CHP discussed the possibility of an amnesty
Wednesday.
"It is very important that the terrorist
organization lay down its arms," Davutoglu said.
The foreign minister was in Central Anatolia to
barnstorm for proposed changes to the constitution.
The referendum is scheduled for September.
While there, he visited Yunak, a district in Konya
province where about 60 percent of the residents are
ethnic Kurds.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu |
"Yunak is a special area
for us because its people are living in harmony
without any internal conflict between ethnic groups,
a situation we all long for in Turkey," Davutoglu
said. "Yunak is the living example of our national
unity project."
Since 1984 the PKK [Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan] 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.
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.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community estimate to 25
million openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
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 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.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, upi com | Agencies
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