MESOP COMMENTARY : ERDOGANS RENAISSANCE OF KURDISTAN / A BRAND NEW CHAPTER ?

Turkey to invest $3.4 bln in rebuilding the Kurdish region, PM quoted as saying / Financed By EU Brussels ?

4 Sept 2016 – MESOP  – Turkey will invest 10 billion lira ($3.4 billion) in rebuilding areas in the largely Kurdish southeast that have been damaged by heavy fighting between militants and the state, the Daily Sabah newspaper quoted the prime minister as saying on Sunday.

Turkey’s southeast has been hit by waves of violence following the collapse of a 2-1/2-year ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the state last year.The government has previously estimated some 6,000 buildings have been destroyed in security operations, and put the cost of replacing them at 1 billion lira ($345 million).“We will renew our centres damaged by PKK terror, making schools, buildings, parks, (and) houses of worship,” the newspaper quoted Binali Yildirim as saying in a speech in Diyarbakir, the region’s largest city.

He said the government would invest in seven provincial centres, with a particular focus on Diyarbakir’s historic Sur district.In February the former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu promised to invest the equivalent of 8 billion Euros (9$ billion) in the country’s Kurdish region, which has been battered by decades of fighting between rebels and the military.Sur’s Roman-era walls are listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. However, the district sustained heavy damage in fighting this year, leading to concern it may be beyond repair. www.mesop.de