Turkey's Erdogan says Kurds have not withdrawn as agreed
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan has said the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has failed to
withdraw its fighters from Turkey as agreed, a condition for Kurdish rights to
be expanded as part of a peace process.
Erdogan did not say what this meant for the
process, seen by many as the best chance yet to end a conflict that has killed
more than 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, since 1984, but indicated that a Kurdish
rights package would be unveiled soon.
"The promises made by the PKK to
withdraw from Turkish soil have not been fulfilled," the newspaper Vatan
quoted him as saying on his way back from Turkmenistan late on Friday.
"Only 20 percent have left Turkey, and
they are mostly women and children."
The PKK feared its fighters, estimated at
around 2,000, would be attacked as they withdrew to bases in the northern Iraqi
mountains, but so far a ceasefire declared in March has largely held. The PKK
has not said how many of its fighters have left, but says clashes could resume
if Ankara does not take concrete steps by the start of September.
Erdogan said on Aug. 8 that parliament may
cut short its summer recess, due to end on Oct. 1, to pass the "democratization
package".
A senior Justice Ministry official told
Reuters last week that the package would include provisions for wider
Kurdish-language education.
But Erdogan, under pressure from
nationalists for offering concessions to
militants officially deemed terrorists, denied this, and said the measures
would not "disturb the Turkish public", Vatan reported.
He also ruled out any general amnesty for
PKK fighters, who have been promised safe passage out of Turkey, but not
rehabilitation.
In addition to more Kurdish-language education,
the Kurds, who dominate Turkey's southeast and account for about a fifth of the
population, want anti-terrorism laws softened, the electoral threshold to enter
parliament lowered from 10 percent, and more powers for local governments.
Erdogan said he had completed his work on
the reform package and that details would be announced in the coming days,
Vatan reported.
Erdogan has invested much political capital
in the process, which has enjoyed strong public support but is increasingly
attracting fierce nationalist criticism.
Turkey, the United States and European
Union all designate the PKK as a terrorist organization. It took up arms to
carve out an independent homeland in the southeast but later scaled back its
demands to greater cultural rights and autonomy.
REUTERS