Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that the notion of the Kurdish question has definitely lost its validity in Turkey.
“When I said there is no longer a Kurdish problem in Turkey, they have snidely attempted to drag the subject elsewhere, which is beyond its aim. It has definitely lost its validity in Turkey after the state has acknowledged the presence of the problem,” said Erdoğan, speaking to district governors, who gathered in the Presidential Palace on the outskirts of Ankara.
“Turkey no longer has the Kurdish question; rather, my Kurdish brothers have problems.”
Erdoğan has emphasized that it would be an injustice if you utter the notion of the Kurdish question in a political environment where the problem is considered.
“However, they are continuously discussing the same thing as if there were no other problems in this country,” he shouted. “This is an endeavor to divide a country. This is actually a discrimination.”
The President has pointed out that this land has become a nation with all of its elements. “This country has 36 different elements, not only Kurds. We have combined all under a single roof and we said we are for one nation, one flag, one motherland and one state,” he said.
He has reiterated Turkey remains committed to achieve its aim which is to end the four-decade armed struggle.
“At any cost, we will continue to struggle for the establishment of brotherhood we have formulated with the peace process until our last breath. But, no peace can be achieved under the shadow of weapons. We can not take any further step forward before seeing a concrete step in an environment where trust has been destroyed and promises have not been kept several times,” he said.
Erdoğan reiterated that Turkey's peace initiative has been actually launched under his responsibility. “I have a right to utter a word because it is a process which has launched and made progress under my responsibility,” he said.
The President has also slammed the leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party for the statement about him as “You are alone, but we are millions,” he made in an address during Newroz celebrations in Istanbul.
“They are poor men. I am in fact the leader of the entire nation. Know your place and know yourself,” said Erdoğan without calling the Kurdish leader's name.
Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-chair of People's Democracy Party, or HDP, accused Erdoğan of seeking a “one-man rule” in which he will be alone in making decisions on every issue.
“Yes, you are one man alone and you will remain alone. We are millions, you are one,” Demirtaş told the crowd, who streamed out Kazlıçeşme Square in Istanbul to hold Newruz celebrations.
