The Diyarbakır Chamber of Trade and Industry (DTSO), the Southeastern Anatolia Businessmen's Association (GÜNSİAD), the Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Diyarbakır branch of the Turkish Doctors Union (TTB), the Diyarbakır Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (DİSİAD) and the Diyarbakır Union of Artisans and Craftsmen's Chambers (DESOB) have applied for an appointment with Gül to offer him their support, but it is not yet clear when the meeting will take place.
Gül recently signaled that steps would be taken to resolve the long-standing Kurdish problem, which he described as Turkey's primary problem.
“Whether you call it a terror problem, a southeastern Anatolia problem or a Kurdish problem, this is the first question for Turkey. It has to be solved,” Gül said earlier this month. He also underlined that progress should be made on the issue. “Everybody is aware of the issue. First, a working understanding should be established. Everybody in the state is now talking to each other more frequently and openly. When I say everybody, I mean soldiers, civilians and the intelligence community. In such an atmosphere, good things happen. This is why I am saying improvements will take place. There is an opportunity, and it should not be missed," Gül added.
He also urged civil society organizations, intellectuals and the media to discuss the problem. Since then, animated discussions have taken place and hopes have been renewed that the problem will soon be solved, but the heads of the main opposition parties -- Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal -- have harshly criticized Gül's remarks.
‘Despite risks, we are ready to do anything'
“There is a suitable atmosphere for a solution, but some circles are refusing to support efforts to find a solution. But any responsible person and institution should back this process. In order to show our support and in order to encourage this process, we requested a meeting with the president,” GÜNSİAD Chairman Şah İsmail Bedirhanoğlu said.
He added that they were planning to discuss once again the possible solutions they suggested to the president last year.
In April of last year, a number of Diyarbakır NGOs submitted a report on the Kurdish issue to President Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The suggestions they made included introducing more freedoms, such as the right to education in Kurdish, as well as many economic proposals, such as constructing an airport in Diyarbakır for cargo shipment and accelerating irrigation projects that are already under way as part of a major sustainable-development project expected to create jobs for approximately 50,000 people. The groups also called for introducing sector-specific incentives for businesses and investors in the region and suggested tax relief for employers, tax reductions for investors, long-run and low-interest export credits for entrepreneurs in the region, the establishment of organized industrial zones and incentives for businessmen from outside the area who move their factories to the region.
“We are planning to repeat our suggestions, but more than this, we are planning to say that we are ready to do anything, regardless of the risks, and that we think that every responsible person should act in this way,” Bedirhanoğlu underlined.
Another person who hopes to participate in the meeting with Gül, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chairman Mehmet Emin Aktar, emphasized that the “process is very delicate.”
“We have many concerns about the process; there is the risk of provocation. There might be efforts to put an end to the process. We witnessed these kinds of things several times in the past. So we want to be cautious, but give full support at the same time,” Aktar said.
He added that in order to further hopes, some positive steps could be taken and that they were planning to discuss these issues with the president, if possible.
“Some steps such as the restoration of the names of geographical locations, legally protecting broadcasting in Kurdish and preventing children from being tried as adults will greatly contribute to the process,” he said.
The government might already have a plan for restoring the original names of settlements. İsmet Berkan of the Radikal daily, after speaking with Prime Minister Erdoğan last week, wrote that the government was preparing to take some steps toward the solution of the Kurdish problem and that it might start by restoring the names of settlements to their original Kurdish names.
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