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ANKARA: Diyarbakir Mayor: Kurdish Issue Isn't Just Terror Problem

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  • ANKARA: Diyarbakir Mayor: Kurdish Issue Isn't Just Terror Problem

    DIYARBAKIR MAYOR: KURDISH ISSUE ISN'T JUST TERROR PROBLEM

    New Anatolian, Turkey
    March 13 2006

    The Kurdish problem is not solely an economic, security or terror
    problem, Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir yesterday told a Kurdish
    conference at Istanbul's Bilgi University.

    The controversial two-day conference on the Kurdish problem organized
    by the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (hCa) was held at Istanbul's Bilgi
    University over the weekend.

    The conference, entitled "Looking for Civil and Democratic Solutions
    I: Turkey's Kurdish Problem" brought together academics, writers,
    journalists, former deputies, and lawyers to discuss the Kurdish
    problem in Turkey.

    Addressing a panel on identity rights, social and cultural dimensions
    of the meeting, Baydemir said that the Kurdish problem is an economic,
    social, political and cultural problem.

    "In order to solve the problem, a civilian project, a roadmap
    which will include all these details should be developed," said the
    southeastern city mayor.

    Author Muhsin Kizilkaya told the same panel that being a Kurd is a
    somewhat dangerous issue in Turkey, while French Rouen University's
    Assistant Professor Salih Akin suggested to the panelists that Kurdish
    should be accepted as a second official language in Turkey.

    Ankara University's Prof. Baskin Oran said that Kurds reject minority
    concept but demand minority rights in Turkey. Oran underlined that
    Kurds are not a minority in Turkey but a fundamental and founder
    element.

    Nationalists protested Saturday at the opening of the conference.

    Small groups of demonstrators greeted participants with banners
    reading: "The Turkish Republic is a whole - it cannot be divided"
    and "No imperialist plot can separate our Kurdish brothers from us."

    Nationalist protesters said the conference was one-sided and
    antidemocratic.

    The Kurdish problem is still largely a taboo subject for public debate
    in Turkey.

    On Saturday, panelists called on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party
    (PKK) to lay down its arms. The most well-received speech on Saturday
    came from Democratic Society Party (DTP) Co-Chairman Ahmet Turk.

    Turk said that he believed the Kurdish problem can be solved within
    the unitary state structure through a democratic political project.

    Turk also urged a political pardon, suggesting that it's not enough
    to just call for people to give up their arms.

    Bilgi University, in Istanbul, last year also hosted a conference on
    so-called Armenian genocide -- another controversial topic in Turkey.
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