Turkey unveils reforms for Kurdish settlement process
1 Oct 2013 6:49 PM GMT
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday unveiled a reform package to facilitate a settlement process aimed at ending a three-decade-long Kurdish insurgency. Under the framework of political party amendments, parties will be able to make their election campaigns in languages other than Turkish, Erdogan said. The move allows Kurdish politicians to hold activities in Kurdish, Xinhua reported.
Erdogan did not set a certain amendment on the threshold for a party to enter parliament, which is currently 10 percent. But he put forward alternatives, including reducing the threshold to five percent or even eliminating the barrier, which may allow more parties, including pro-Kurdish political parties, to enter parliament.
Education in languages other than Turkish in private schools will be possible, Erdogan said. The long-awaited reforms were demanded as part of negotiations with outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), and the package is seen as a milestone in the negotiation process with Kurds launched in 2012.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and some other countries, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.
Erdogan did not set a certain amendment on the threshold for a party to enter parliament, which is currently 10 percent. But he put forward alternatives, including reducing the threshold to five percent or even eliminating the barrier, which may allow more parties, including pro-Kurdish political parties, to enter parliament.
Education in languages other than Turkish in private schools will be possible, Erdogan said. The long-awaited reforms were demanded as part of negotiations with outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), and the package is seen as a milestone in the negotiation process with Kurds launched in 2012.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and some other countries, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.
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