Sabah: “Movies taught me life,” the daily said in the headline of its main story yesterday, quoting remarks from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who gathered with thespians, actors and actresses in İstanbul on Saturday to discuss the government’s Kurdish initiative, which aims to resolve Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem. Erdoğan said he grew up watching the movies of Yeşilçam (Turkey’s Hollywood) and mentioned the names of 36 movies he was very much influenced by. “We all know people whose lives change after reading a novel. A movie or a play also has the power to accomplish this. I know how movie producers changed Turkey with their works. I would like to offer my thanks to you on behalf of the nation,” Erdoğan told the cinema artists.Milliyet: “Every article should be approved separately,” the daily said in the headline of its lead story yesterday, quoting jurists who called a government plan to take a constitutional reform package to a referendum as a whole, rather than article by article, undemocratic. Jurists said the public should be given the chance to reject or approve every single article. Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentary group deputy chairman Suat Kılıç said, “Since we shaped the reform package relying on concepts such as law, equality and freedom, we do not foresee presenting the package to a referendum article by article.” Professor İbrahim Kabaoğlu, on the other hand, said the presentation of various issues to the public’s approval might be a blow to the goal of a referendum.
Taraf: “We should forgive each other,” the daily said in the headline of a front-page article yesterday, quoting remarks from Ahmet Türk, the leader of the now-defunct pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). Attending a Nevruz celebration organized by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Van, Türk said: “Some mistakes [against Kurds] were made in the past. Now, we have to forgive each other and launch the social peace process. This country has undergone much pain. The wounds should be treated now.”
