It’s a crime against humanity to deny a language, race: Turkish PM

VAN

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that it’s a crime against humanity to deny a language or a race, adding that no race is above the other.

“Who can say that a Kurd is superior to a Turk or a Laz is superior to a Circassian? Isn’t it to depreciate God’s creation to say that a race is superior? Isn’t it disrespectfulness against our prophet who said ‘I trampled on every type of racism and discrimination.’ We know that it’s a crime against humanity to denounce a race or a language,” Yıldırım said at a rally in the eastern province of Van on April 1, as he added that “a garden is a place where all colors, all types of flowers and all shades of green exist together.”

“Doesn’t one ask ‘Where are all the yellow ones?’ if a garden only consists of the color red? Can you call a garden with a single color a garden? Everyone should know that we are Turks, Kurds, Zazas, Lazs, [the western province of] İzmir and Van. Kurdish, Turkish, Zaza language and Laz language belongs to us. We stand against those who separate the things God united. We just have to see the games being played,” he also said. 

During his speech, Yıldırım said that plenty of businessmen “were forced to leave their investments and citizens were forced to migrate” due to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

“Don’t forget; the compassionate hand, help and support of the state will always be with you. However, its iron fist will hit terrorists and those who make your lives difficult. Our security forces will chase the terrorists, who act as the hitman of foreign intelligence services, wherever they go and neutralize them whenever they find them,” he also said.   

Saying that PKK harmed the people, Van and Turkey, Yıldırım noted that “while the government was constructing, they were destroying.”

“Didn’t they do the most harm to Kurds, Turks and the noble people of this country? Aren’t they those who burn schools in order to prevent children from receiving education? Aren’t they those who abduct and kill engineers and workers in order to prevent roads and tunnels from being built? Didn’t the Kurds suffer the most because of this terror?” he added.

Yıldırım also commented on the April 16 referendum that will decide whether the current parliamentary system should be shifted into an executive presidency, saying that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are “twin siblings.”

“Whenever we say ‘new constitution,’ the HDP and CHP threaten the people and spread fear. They are traveling in a world of dreams and apart from reality. They are now twin siblings. One lifts their foot and the other takes a step,” he also said.