Turkish President: Process will cement fraternity

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

‘Good things will continue happening,’ Abdullah Gül says. AA photo

Resolution of the Kurdish issue will bring a bright future to the people of Turkey, President Abdullah Gül said March 22, adding that he hoped common sense would eventually prevail on what he called the most important issue in the history of the country.

In response to reporters’ questions about March 21’s Nevruz celebrations, Gül said he always had the conviction that the Kurdish issue would be resolved by “raising Turkey’s democratic and legal standards, taking universal democracy as criteria and within the framework of the conscience which is the fruit of thousand-year-long togetherness on these lands.”

No comment on Öcalan’s call

Gül declined to make a particular comment on the call by the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, for a “new era” of peace that includes an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of militants from Turkey.

He preferred to comment on the resolution process, which aims to end the three-decade-long conflict between security forces and the PKK without going into detail about Öcalan’s call. Gül said he had always believed that violence was not a remedy and common sense would eventually prevail.

“I regard the latest developments all in this framework. You know, I have always believed that good things will happen in Turkey. I have always supported good steps and good things. I hope that this process serves as a means for the beginning of an era in which our fraternity – which sometimes shows signs of weakening – consolidates again, everybody in Turkey lives in peace and serenity and prosperity is sovereign.”

“Good things will continue happening and common sense will always prevail,” he said, calling for a lesson to be learned from the grievances, apparently stemming from the conflict.