PKK Affiliate Suggests Plan to Resolve Kurdish Issue in Turkey
By AZAD KURDI – RUDAW – BRUSSELS, Belgium – 13.12.2012 – At the 9th EU, Turkey and the Kurds Conference last week in the Belgian capital Brussels to address the Kurdish issue in Turkey, the Kurdistan People’s Community (KCK) said that Ankara had not demonstrated any clarity over resolving the Kurdish issue. Zuber Aydar, a member of the group which is recognized as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said, “Turkey must draw up a new plan to negotiate with the Kurds.”
In a speech that drew the attention of attendees, which included representatives of the European Union, prominent Kurdish, Turkish and international politicians as well as journalists and experts, Aydar said that the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, “Is the founder of the party, and therefore has the legal right to veto its decisions.”
He added that a Turkish initiative to resolve the Kurdish issue should include the following:
-The identity of all ethnicities in Turkey must be protected under a new constitution
-The Kurds must be able to study in Kurdish from primary school through university
-All restrictions on the Kurdish media must be lifted and equal opportunities must be provided to develop and protect Kurdish culture
-All restrictions on freedom of speech must be lifted and everyone must be free to exercise his or her political beliefs
-The provinces must be run under a democratic system within autonomous regions
-The mercenary system must be dissolved and investigations must be launched to resolve problems that emerged from it
-The Kurdish guerrillas must be accepted as the security force of their region within a new democratic system
– Ocelan and all other Kurdish political prisoners must be freed
-The necessary steps must be taken to heal social scars, and all social restrictions must be lifted on people who were forced to leave their homes
-The victims of the conflict must be compensated, and damaged villages must be rebuilt
-Steps must be taken to improve administration, the legal system and the economy of Kurdish areas .