ATALAY: COUNCIL OF STATE ATTACK WAS A PROVOCATION
Today’s Zaman
Nov 9 2009
Turkey
In a speech delivered at the Justice and Development Party’s (AK
Party) Academy of Politics on Friday, Interior Minister BeÅ~_ir Atalay
said the Council of State attack was a provocation orchestrated by
a single organization.
Recently established by the AK Party to enhance the awareness of
politics in Turkey, the academy hosted Atalay in its fourth session
on Friday to speak about politics in Turkey. During his speech, Atalay
touched on the issues that have been largely debated among the public
and developments in Turkey in the past six months, recent democratic
initiatives, Turkish-Armenian relations, the fight against terrorism
and the ruling government’s strict policy on revealing criminal acts
and assassinations.
Atalay said light has been shed on the darkness of previous periods
and that the AK Party will not leave anything in doubt during its
tenure. Noting that the Council of State attack was revealed to be
an organized provocation against the AK Party in 2006, Atalay said
everything during their term will be very open and transparent. "We
will leave no criminals unidentified," Atalay stated.
In addition, speaking about terrorism, Atalay said the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist organization’s financial resources and
extensions in Europe have been largely undermined. "Even France has
started arresting [people connected with the PKK]. The PKK is no longer
able to get any resources from European countries." Atalay said their
only goal is to put an end to terrorism and establish brotherhood.
He said that although they have conducted cross-border operations over
the last two years, terrorism, which has both political and commercial
aspects, has not yet come to an end. Atalay stressed the damage
caused by terrorism, saying: "Twenty-five years have passed. Tens
of thousands of people have died. The cost has been enormous. Our
resources will be exhausted in fighting against terrorism,"
Asserting that Turkey’s two big problems are the Armenian diaspora
and the PKK terrorist organization, Atalay said Turkey and Azerbaijan
are the same. "No steps will be taken unless a development is seen
in Nagorno-Karabakh [a disputed territory between Azerbaijan and
Armenia]," Atalay said.