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PresidentGül emphasizes unity on a trip to Southeast Anatolia while stressing that the diversity of Turkey should not be perceived as a threat. But his visit to the Diyarbakır mayor's office is criticized by the country’s main nationalist party because of the bilingual signs in the building
The Diyarbakır Municipality welcomed President Gül on Thursday with banners that read 'Welcome' in both Kurdish and Turkish. DHA photo
President Abdullah Gül has emphasized the importance of national unity during a visit to Diyarbakır, but he was criticized by the country’s main nationalist party for a meeting he held with a local official.
Speaking at a dinner with local businessmen in Diyarbakır late Thursday, Gül focused on unity, but said diversity should not be perceived as a threat.
“We are all pieces of a huge nation. There are differences in a big nation. However, we should see [our] diversity as richness,” Gül said. “If we see those differences as a threat, there may be problems.”
But Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, criticized Gül for visiting Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir at his office, where both Turkish-language and Kurdish-language banners welcomed the president.
“It is an uncomfortable development that the president is visiting [the Diyarbakır] mayor’s office, which has bilingual sign boards, and encouraging the separatists, who recently came up with separation scenarios,” MHP chief Devlet Bahçeli, said in a written statement late Thursday.
Referring to the National Security Council, or MGK’s, recent declaration about the bilingual demands of Kurdish politicians, Bahçeli said the president had sabotaged that statement.
“MGK’s statement said ‘attempts to change the understanding of one flag, one nation, one motherland, one state and the fact that the official language of the Republic of Turkey is Turkish will not be accepted.’ With the president’s visit to the Diyarbakır mayor’s office, that statement has been undermined,” Bahçeli said.
Gül’s trip to the predominantly Kurdish city comes amid discussions on “democratic autonomy” and bilingualism after the Democratic Society Congress, or DTK, an umbrella group for pro-Kurdish organizations, outlined a proposal two weeks ago for an autonomous administration in the region. During his meetings in Diyarbakir, the president emphasized the need for unity, while embracing the cultural diversity of Turkey.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php? ... 2010-12-31