Turkey - Kurds

Turkish Prime Minister meets head of nationalist Kurd party

Article published on the 2009-08-05 Latest update 2009-08-06 10:52 TU

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and DTP leader Ahmet Turk in Ankara
(Photo: Reuters)

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met with Ahmet Turk, the head of Turkey’s main Kurdish party on Wednesday, ending a two year political embargo. In the past Turkish premiers have refused to meet with Kurdish nationalist politicians, saying that they would need to disown the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) before any talks took place.

Nationalist Kurds find it politically impossible to do this because many have relatives or other affiliations with the PKK.

Both men said it was a healthy exchange, according to Jasper Mortimer, our correspondent in Ankara. Mortimer added that Turk, head of the mainly Kurd Democratic Socialist Party, said that he hoped all people in Turkey, Turks and Kurds, would one day "hug each other."

"Pressure has been building," said Mortimer when asked about the timing of the meeting. "The imprisoned leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, has announced that he is going to unveil a peace plan, releasing a document outlining the plan through his lawyers on August 15th," he said.

"Erdogan doesn't want to be upstaged by a guy who he sees as an arch-terrorist," he added.

Turk’s Kurds are demanding to be able to use their language, Kurdish, in schools and official meetings. They also call for greater autonomy in Kurdish-majority areas in eastern Turkey.