GOV’T TO CONTINUE KURDISH INITIATIVE, NO MATTER THE COST

Today’s Zaman
15 August 2009, Saturday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday addressed a meeting of
members of his AK Party on the eighth anniversary of its establishment.

The government will continue to take every step necessary to achieve
success with its recently announced Kurdish initiative, regardless
of what the cost may be, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Speaking at his party’s Extended Province Chairmen meeting on
the eighth anniversary of the Justice and Development Party’s
(AK Party) establishment, Erdogan criticized the opponents of the
Kurdish initiative, mostly the opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), accusing them of making
political profit from the issue. "We believe in this. We have taken
steps and we will continue to do so, no matter what price we might
have to pay," he said.

Erdogan said the AK Party would never open discussions on Turkey’s
unity, territorial integrity or brotherhood, adding: "The people we
talk to are the 71.5 million citizens of Turkey. We know of no people
to talk to other than the citizens of our noble nation." He said
Turkey has wasted its energy and resources on the separatist violence
created by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) 25 years ago.

"If Turkey had been able to find a solution to that plague we call
terrorism, which has devoured our young men like a monster … it
[Turkey] would be standing in a very different place right now,"
he noted.

"Now we are saying that Turkey has to confront the problem. Turkey
has to permanently solve this problem," the prime minister said. He
called on party delegates to read the party’s platform, where it can
be seen that since its founding, the AK Party has been committed to
solving the Kurdish question.

"Our nation also wants this. … Those who are exploiting this matter,
those who want to make personal profit out of this and those who
believe they can deal blows to the AK Party by exploiting this [issue]
are trying to block this. This is what is going on, but we will not
pay attention to any of that. We believe in this. We have taken steps,
and we will continue to, no matter what price we might have to pay,"
Erdogan said.

The prime minister also said he did not want to allow the Kurdish
issue to be subject to useless political rhetoric and conflict. He
said both the CHP and the MHP had voiced opposition without even being
fully informed of the details of what will be included in the Kurdish
initiative. "Weren’t they saying they were happy to compromise for
the good of the country? Accept this, first sit down and talk and
then tell us, ‘No, we won’t be part of this.’ But they haven’t even
done that," he said.

Both the CHP and the MHP have rejected a request from Interior Minister
Beþir Atalay — who is currently meeting with political party, civil
society and trade union representatives to hear their suggestions
on the Kurdish question — to schedule an appointment to discuss
the initiative.

Erdogan was particularly harsh in his criticism of MHP leader Devlet
Bahceli. "Mr. Bahceli is in a mood of panic and anxiety. He has
addressed us in an ugly fashion with no regard to the rules of
etiquette. I leave it to our nation to assess his attitude," he
said He urged Bahceli, who recently criticized President Abdullah
Gul for using the Kurdish name of a district in southeastern Turkey,
to read some books on the history of Turkey. "When Alparslan won the
Malazgirt war in 1071, he didn’t change the name of the Malazgirt Plain
even though Malazgirt is a word of Armenian origin," he said. He also
gave the examples of the Ottoman Empire’s founders, Etruðrul Gazi and
Osman Gazi, and the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
asking Bahceli, "Are you saying you are more of a patriot than them?"

Still, he called on both opposition parties, once again, to join the
process. "Where will we reach consensus if not on this issue? To which
issue will you contribute if you won’t contribute to this one? … If
this problem could be solved with slogans, it would have been solved
a long time ago," he said.

He also called on "some representatives" of the Democratic Society
Party (DTP) to refrain from speeches and behavior that might be
considered provocative at this time. "Please refrain from carrying out
acts that might damage the general atmosphere of compromise formed
throughout the country. I have announced that our intentions are
real and sincere. We should treat this as an issue beyond politics;
we should act with a sensibility that pays attention to Turkey’s
sensitivities," he added.

He continued: "We want nothing more than to stop the tears of
mothers who lose sons to this. All we want is to end the tears shed
by fathers. We make the effort for nothing more than strengthening
brotherhood … We have no purpose more than loving the creation for
the sake of the Creator."

AK Party anniversary Erdogan’s speech yesterday also focused on the
AK Party’s eight years in politics.

He started his speech at the AK Party headquarters in the capital by
congratulating party members for the transparency they have shown in
democratically electing new presidents and board members to regional
chapters and the women’s and youth organizations. "I ask God to
give us many more years of unity, integrity, peace and brotherhood,"
Erdogan said.

He said he was very happy to see the enthusiasm of the AK Party
delegates in all 81 provinces across the country. "God willing, we
will hold our big congress on Oct. 3 and renew our enthusiasm once
again and focus on the 2011 elections in unity and togetherness after
that," he noted.

Erdogan continued: "We have come out with victory and as the hope
of our nation in the four elections we have run in during the past
eight years. We will enter the fifth election with the same spirit and
enthusiasm, and with God’s permission, we will come out as the winning
party and in this way become a new record-holder in our political
history. For this reason, there can be no relaxing, pessimism,
exhaustion or fatigue. Our noble nation expects to see more from us."

He said the AK Party will continue to closely monitor the problems
of every province. He said he believed in and trusted the AK Party
organization. "Thanks to this establishment, Turkey has broken its
shell. Thanks to this establishment, the party has reared up. Thanks
to this establishment, Turkey has solved each problem that was said
to be irresolvable before. Unarguably, the most dynamic party in our
political history has been the AK Party," he said.

Erdogan thanked his party’s members and said, "May your path and
destiny be open and may God be on your side."

AK Party strives to reach out to every part of the nation Erdogan
recalled that he has participated in the opening of many new facilities
during recent visits to Trabzon, Rize and Artvin, where crowds gathered
to meet him. "The selflessness of our people, even in the dead heat
of summer, to come and be with the AK Party clearly shows where we
stand today," he said.

He said that on the eighth anniversary of the party, he was very
happy to see that the AK Party had been true to the nation’s support
and prayers. "We have put many problems that we and our nation were
faced with on track. We showed some firsts to Turkey, introduced new
records. We said the owner of the AK party is the nation," he said.

He said the establishment of the AK Party turned a new leaf in the
history of Turkey. "Nothing has been the same in Turkey since the
[establishment of] the AK Party. With the AK Party, democracy has
been strengthened, and every attempt to thwart democracy has been
eliminated," he said.