Şimşek, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy and minister from Batman, from where he is running in the June 12 general elections, emphasized that he is Kurdish. “I am Kurdish as you are and I know Kurdish,” he said as quoted by the Anatolia news agency. “If Kurds were not first class citizens, why would they delegate a Kurdish person to take care of the Finance Ministry? Is there a ban on Kurdish? No. Are Kurds badly treated? No.”
Şimşek added that he served as deputy for the southeastern province of Gaziantep and observed that the most successful businesspeople come from such areas as Cizre, Kızıltepe, Pervari, Siirt and Batman, where the Kurdish population is large, but that they take their investments to Gaziantep because they view the province as being safer.
“Who would not want to serve his own people in his own village or town? But they take their money and labor elsewhere. I appeal that you don't give your vote to the ones who force you to close down your businesses. If we give our votes to people who destroy the image of Batman, we will not be able to get investors here; our youth will be jobless. We call for more freedom, more democracy and more jobs,” he said in the İkiköprü neighborhood of Beşiri town in Batman, as quoted by the Anatolia news agency.
Candidate Ensarioğlu says AK Party only chance to solve Kurdish problem
Galip Ensarioğlu, head of the Diyarbakır Chamber of Trade and Industry (DTSO) and a deputy candidate for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), has said the Kurdish problem cannot be solved without the AK Party, and that the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) should be aware of this.
“The BDP has no chance but the AK Party in order to develop a solution for the Kurdish problem. Also, the AK Party has no chance other than getting help from the BDP. We can't solve the problem by ignoring each other. I am hopeful for the new Parliament,” Ensarioğlu said as quoted in an interview with the Star daily on Monday.
In addition, Ensarioğlu argued that Kurds are not a homogenous group. “We have been against state policies that are aimed at [creating] homogeneity. If similar policies are to be forced on Kurds today, there is no difference. We haven't tolerated a state that tyrannizes people, and we will not tolerate others today who want to do the same,” he said in the interview.
