Parliament begins to consider major democratic intiative

Parliament yesterday started to debate government plans to solve the so-called Kurdish or southeastern Anatolia issue, with Interior Minister Besir Atalay taking the floor as the first official to brief deputies about the outlines, goals and limits of the democratic initiative. Atalay gave a timeline of government plans to solve this longstanding problem, saying it would be done through expanding the democratic rights and freedoms of Turkey's citizens of Kurdish origin along with other socioeconomic measures. "The democratic initiative has two connected goals," he said. "One is to end or minimize terrorism, and the second is to improve democracy and raise its standards." Atalay said terrorism can end only when the terrorist PKK lays down its arms, meaning its members abandon the group and leave its mountain bases. "No one should seek to gain political advantage from this," said Atalay. "Political showmanship doesn't help solve the problem. We don't approve of this attitude and no one should think repeating it," he added, referring to the celebrations by the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in southeastern Turkey, which followed the surrender last month of 34 terrorist PKK members and sympathizers. He said the government hasn't closed its doors to anyone and that defending a stalemate over the problem and "negative politics" serve no one's interests. "We know that our people will have to pay a much greater cost tomorrow if we don't solve this issue today, which has taken tens of thousands of lives," he said. He added that on Thursday he would publicly unveil the measures the government plans under the move. "The government's democratic move deals with the terror problem as a whole in all its dimensions," he explained. "We have to think of the democratic move not as a weakness but on the contrary a necessity of our decisive and resolute fight against terrorism." Atalay said democratization and expanding freedom are important for fighting terrorism based on ethnic nationalism. "Our goal is to secure an environment free of terrorism and violence where everyone feels safe and free living together in a peaceful and prosperous country," he said. He added that the initiative aims to eliminate a key hurdle to Turkey emerging as a strong regional power and key global actor, adding that the nation will hear more about the initiative in the weeks to come. Also addressing Parliament yesterday, opposition speakers continued to blast the initiative, claiming that it would undermine the unity of the Turkish nation and the unitary state structure of the Turkish Republic. Parliament is expected to have a broader evaluation of and debate of the plans tomorrow.