Gul appears on CNN Turk channel, discussing various issues on Turkey's agenda

Speaking on the private CNN Turk channel late on Wednesday, President Abdullah Gul touched upon a wide array of domestic and foreign issues on Turkey's political agenda. Touching on the Kurdish issue, Gul said that said violence and terrorism will not contribute to any progress in the Kurdish dispute, pointing out that no state bows to any kind of threat or terrorism from terrorist organizations. "Turkey is currently not in a situation where it has to negotiate after [having difficulties dealing] with violence. Our security forces are accomplishing their task with great coordination. But we are taking this step to raise our democratic standards and [moral] conscience… We are making this effort because we are willing to do what we believe in, what we see as the right thing to do," Gul said. Reiterating that Turkey's national unity should not be debilitated and the will shown by the outlawed PKK for finding a peaceful solution should be interpreting as proof that "violence is no longer beneficial," Gul said, "The pains it caused are evident. There is an expectation [to end violence] among the base and the people. They might have listened to them." Gul stressed that the government and state had not launched the peace process out of a sense of exhaustion following a surge in terrorist activity over the past few years, but that the state and government engaged in the process because they believe in what they are doing. With regard to the presidential form of government, Gul stated that democratic characteristics of a system are of more importance than the type of system, adding that if the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission decides to create a presidential form of government, it would be within its rights to do so.  Touching on the protracted Syrian conflict, Gul said the longer the crisis continues, the more it poses a danger to regional peace and stability. Gul also criticized the position of the United States and Europe regarding the Syrian issue, warning that the extension of the war will mean more radicalization of the parties.