Başbuğ rules out any ethnic rights in political field
Nobody should accept Turkey granting political rights to a certain ethnic group, a top Turkish commander said yesterday, a day after European Commission President José Manuel Barroso urged Ankara to ensure both cultural and political rights for the Kurdish people of Turkey.
Gen. İlker Başbuğ, commander of the Turkish Land Forces, yesterday wrapped up a visit to the northern part of the divided island of Cyprus by holding a press conference at the headquarters of the Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces Command (KTBK) in Lefkoşa.
The Turkish Republic is respectful of cultural differences and takes the necessary measures to maintain cultural diversity, provided that those measures are not harmful to the nation-state structure, Başbuğ stated. "Beyond that, nobody can demand or expect Turkey to make collective arrangements for a certain ethnic group in the political arena, outside of the cultural arena, which would endanger the nation-state structure as well as the unitary state structure," Başbuğ was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
Barroso, currently on an official visit to Turkey, had touched upon the same issue while addressing the Turkish Parliament on Thursday. "The problems of the Southeast [Anatolia] need to be addressed through a comprehensive strategy. It should combine efforts for the socio-economic development of the region, and ensure cultural and political rights for Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin. I know that the government is working on a plan in this direction, and I look forward to hearing the details of it as soon as possible," Barroso told deputies in Ankara.
Başbuğ also warned that carrying measures from the cultural field to the political field would pose the danger of "polarization and decomposition."
"This is possibly the greatest evil that can be done to Turkish society," he added, noting that it was his duty to give this warning as a commander responsible for the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a separatist fight against the Turkish military since 1984.
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The EU is definetely dealing with the wrong government in "turkey=fascist state"...
effendara form bayarak, your take on this is?
Hasn't come accross your desk yet you say?
Maybe take newbies advice and say it out loud...