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Government ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to end terror
The prime minister said to emphasize his government’s determination to end the Kurdish problem: “We are ready to be stripped of all offices, titles we possess. All we want is that not another drop of martyrs’ blood is shed.”
The prime minister’s remarks were a continuation of a verbal fight that started in Parliament on Friday as the General Assembly discussed the government’s democratic initiative aimed at alleviating and ultimately ending Turkey’s long-standing problem with separatist violence by extending more rights to Kurds. Opposition leaders Deniz Baykal of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Devlet Bahçeli of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) referred to the democratic initiative as a destructive plan and accused the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of serving the goals of the terrorist PKK.
Erdoğan criticized the opposition in a very harsh tone on Saturday. “In the past 25 years, terror has formed its own lobby and market. There are those who earn their bread from this bloody market.” He repeated his earlier accusation that the opposition was exploiting the terror problem and expecting political gain from the deaths of soldiers. He also said the PKK was exploiting the same terrorism market, referring to the festive homecoming celebration for 34 PKK returnees in mid-October as a result of this exploitation. “When the bullets are silent, when there are no more martyr funerals, when there are no more youths joining [terrorists], when there are no more tears, winners of this bloody market will be jobless. What we saw in Habur, Diyarbakır [during the reception of PKK returnees] was a result of this exploitation,” he said.
 Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was warmly welcomed by residents of the Aegean province of İzmir, where he inaugurated the newly built İzmir-Ankara highway. |
He referred to Nov. 13, which saw the debate on the democratic initiative in Parliament, as a milestone. He also denied accusations that his government was talking to the PKK. “No honored government of this country has negotiated with terrorists. Nobody can debate the borders of this country, its secular, democratic structure as a social welfare state governed by the rule of law,” he said.
The prime minister also criticized some media outlets for attempting to undermine the democratic initiative process. “Some media agencies are slyly trying to undermine this process of brotherhood with the images they publish and with untruthful news stories they report. They are trying to axe the process.”
In his criticism of the CHP, he accused the party of betraying Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. “‘This party is Atatürk’s party,’ they sometimes say. No, Atatürk did not leave you such a party. The first betrayal started as such. When Atatürk died, you [the CHP] erased his pictures from the bills and placed İnönü’s pictures instead.”
Meanwhile, CHP leader Baykal also continued to criticize Erdoğan and the democratic initiative. He reiterated his earlier statement that the initiative was a common project of the AK Party and the PKK. He said the democratic initiative will inevitably bring ethnic separation to the country. “The PKK has neared obtaining what it has failed to get with armed struggle in 25 years with the cooperation of this government.”
Speaking during a visit to the Karamanlı Municipality in Burdur, Baykal said when a group of PKK terrorists returned to Turkey, prosecutors had rushed to their feet. “Which law, which article allows that. The man [returnee] openly says, ‘I am not an enemy. I am a member of the PKK. Keep that in mind when taking my testimony.’ Who made this possible? How can [PKK leader] Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and our government work together in this project?”
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