Turkish prime minister repeats stance against ethnic, religious nationalism

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is on a visit to the southeastern province of Mardin. AA photo

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeated his call against ethnic nationalism during a speech in the southeastern province of Mardin, adding that religious nationalism was on the list of harmful ideologies as well.

“The Turkish Republic is one nation on the land,” Erdoğan said. “That one nation includes all. Whoever pursues ethnic nationalism in it is of ill-intent. No one should come to us regarding being Turks or being Kurds. We have no separatism or divisions.”

Erdoğan added that “religious nationalism” should also not be present.

“Our nationalism is about patriotism, about humanism,” Erdoğan said.

Speaking on the issue of terrorism in the region, Erdoğan mentioned a new form of “national unity and brotherhood” project that called for the end of guns and violence and the inclusion of political will.

“We have started a process to allow an opportunity for politics,” Erdoğan said. “The south will have the same rights as the west. The solution of the problem involves providing the same rights for everyone.”

Opposition hinders Constitution work

Erdoğan then moved on to Turkey’s pending new Constitution, targeting members of opposition parties for stalling the process.

“We do our best, the remaining ones hamper with the process,” Erdoğan said. “We, as a party with over 300 deputies, have three representatives in the commission, while the others, with over 200 deputies in total, have nine representatives. We compromised on that to speed up the process.”

Erdoğan said the work is set to continue “till the end of March.”

“The last obstacle standing in our way is terrorism,” Erdoğan said. “Once that is settled as well, Turkey will be unstoppable.”