Turkish PM: Let this Nevruz bring hope for resolution

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today said he hoped this year’s Nevruz would provide hope for the resolution process to Turkey’s Kurdish issue.

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said in a message read out by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş yesterday, that he would make a “historic call” on March 21, Nevruz, aiming to further the democratization of Turkey. In the statement, which followed a third parliamentarian visit to İmralı island as part of the peace process, Öcalan also urged Parliament to work toward ensuring there is lasting peace in the country.

“We wish for this March 21, Nevruz, to be celebrated with joy. Let this year’s Nevruz provide hope, and spread the seeds for resolution, let this Nevruz be a day of smiling faces. We wish for Nevruz to be celebrated as opening the door to brotherhood, but not to sedition or struggle,” Erdoğan said, speaking at his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) group meeting in the Turkish Parliament.

Meanwhile, a Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy who recently resigned from his party, Salih Fırat, joined the AKP today.

Fırat said he joined the AKP to share hemlock poison, referring to Erdoğan’s earlier remarks that “he would do anything to resolve the [Kurdish] issue, including drinking hemlock poison.”