Finance Minister Simsek says Kurds are first class citizens in Turkey

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said if Kurds were not first class citizens in Turkey, the country's finances would not be in his hands.Simsek 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”.Simsek 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.