Turkish democracy is example for Muslim world-Erdogan

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan trumpeted Turkey's credentials as a rising democratic power on Sunday, saying his Islamist-rooted ruling party had become an example to the Muslim world after a decade in charge.             

Addressing thousands of party members and regional leaders at a congress of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan said the era of military coups in the nation of 75 million people was over.                         

Erdogan renewed his criticism of Russia, China and Iran, which have backed Assad in the 18-month uprising, saying history would "not forgive those who stand by oppressors".                    

He pledged a new chapter in relations with Turkey's Kurds but called on them to denounce violence by the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.                

Erdogan said in a television interview last week that the intelligence agencies might hold talks with the PKK when the time was right.

Ankara has increasingly courted Iraq's Kurds and imports oil from the region, further souring relations with the Iraqi government in Baghdad. But Turkey has also sent fighter jets to bombard PKK bases within Iraqi Kurdistan.                  

The Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the militants took up arms in 1984, and as the death toll climbs so does the public pressure on Erdogan to bring an end to the bloodshed.                            


REUTERS