Turkey unveils plans to expand Kurdish rights
Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009
19:30GMT—2:30PM/EST
Washington, 13 November (WashingtonTV)—Turkey’s government on Friday announced plans to expand the rights of its Kurdish population.
The reform is aimed at ending an insurgency by Kurdish rebels that has dragged on for 25 years, and at boosting Turkey’s hopes of European Union membership, according to Reuters.
The initiative includes removing all restrictions on the use of the once-banned Kurdish language, establishing a committee to fight discrimination, and restoring Kurdish names of Kurdish-majority villages, reports the Associated Press.
Some of the proposals would require legislative approval. The ruling party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a strong majority in parliament, and would likely pass the measures.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK], branded a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign in 1984 with the goal of creating an ethnic homeland for Kurds in Turkey’s southeast.
More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict.
Opposition lawmakers said that the reforms would ignore sacrifices of slain soldiers and undermine the unit y of the state, reports AP.
Kurds make up about 20 percent of the country’s more than 70 million people.
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press
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