New policy needed for Diyarbakır: Tradesmen

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Diyarbakır needs a new policy to reverse the negative impacts of intense clashes and curfews on the day-to-day life in the historic city, leading businesspeople in the southeastern province have said in a meeting with Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş.

Businesspersons also presented Demirtaş a report on how clashes, curfews and military operations in Diyarbakır had impacted its economy.

“We told [Demirtaş] about the need to develop a new policy in regard to [Diyarbakır’s] current situation. We have already given the government a report on interactions between economic parties on problems faced over the past six months,” Diyarbakır Industry and Business Association (DİSİAD) President Burç Baysal said.

“We had already presented the report to the CHP [Republican People’s Party] and gave it to Demirtaş, too,” Baysal said.

Baysal said the measures taken by the government fell short of solving the problems in the province rocked by clashes, asking for additional governmental support to recover from losses in the city.

The economic aspect of the Kurdish peace process has been badly impacted, he added.

Meanwhile, the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ over her remarks defending autonomy, a day after Demirtaş, was notified of a probe against him over crimes against the constitutional order.