Erdoğan challenges opposition on Kurdish issue

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Erdoğan speaks at a meeting of his party’s provincial chairmen. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan challenged the Republican People’s Party (CHP)  today to detail its proposals for resolving the Kurdish conflict and explain what it means by “social consensus.”

Addressing CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan said: “He keeps saying that the anti-terror struggle should be carried out with a social consensus. What is a social consensus? Come on, go ahead. Tell us what a social consensus means, no one is gagging your mouth.”

Erdoğan, speaking at a meeting of his party’s provincial chairmen, derided the CHP’s fledgling efforts to reach out to the Kurds, claiming that Kılıçdaroğlu’s landmark pre-election meeting in Hakkari last year was only made possible under a “special deal” with Kurdish militants. In further remarks at the gathering, the prime minister described his Justice and Development Party (AKP) as “the party not only of Turkey but also of the world,” saying it had “responsibilities not only for our people, but for humanity as well.”

Foreign trips

Erdoğan is scheduled to travel to Bulgaria Friday for a trilateral meeting with his counterparts Boyko Borisov of Bulgaria and Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani of Qatar, sources said. The talks, to be held in Borisov’s official summer retreat, are expected to focus on economic cooperation, including a possible project to construct a dam on the Turkish-Bulgarian border to prevent frequent floods from the Maritza River. Qatar will reportedly finance the project.

Erdoğan is also scheduled to visit Pakistan and Kazakhstan between May 20 and 23.