TURKEY LAUNCHES PEACE PLAN TO END CONFLICT WITH KURDS
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.11.2009 10:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Government has formally launched a peace
plan to try to end the conflict in the mainly Kurdish south-east of
the country. Reform package, including freedom to use the Kurdish
language. was submitted to Parliament by Interior Minister BeÅ~_ir
Atalay.
"We want everyone in this country to be treated equally," he said,
but then warned that there would need to be a complete change in the
mindset of the Turkish people to achieve that goal.
But throughout his half-hour speech, Mr Atalay refused to refer
specifically to the Kurds, whose resistance to the Turkish state is
the real reason for these reforms.
Instead he chose to describe them as primarily for combating terrorism
and preserving national unity. The ferocious criticism the government
has received over its initiative has clearly made it nervous, despite
its commanding majority in parliament.
Turkish nationalists claim that changes pose threat to Turkey’s unity.
The leader of one nationalist party accused the government of lacking
the courage to fight terrorism head-on, BBC reports.
Kurdish minority’s fight for independence has lasted 30 years, taking
lives of more than 40 thousand people.