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Erdoğan’s Diyarbakır speech
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held his long-awaited election rally in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakır on Wednesday, where he was welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd. In his speech, which included messages of unity, Erdoğan tried to find common ground between Kurds and Turks by reminding people of what their commonalities were. Regarding the solution to the Kurdish problem, Erdoğan did not make any new promises but pledged to continue government efforts to resolve the issue. Comments and criticism about the prime minister’s Diyarbakır speech found their way into newspaper columns extensively yesterday.
Sabah’s Emre Aköz, who had the opportunity to follow Erdoğan’s Diyarbakır rally in Diyarbakır, commented on Erdoğan’s speech and said the prime minister dwelled on “commonalities” between Kurds and Turks, adopting a “unifying” language against the separatist power of Kurdish and Turkish neo-nationalism. The first thing that attracted Aköz’s attention regarding Erdoğan’s speech was his reference to Islam as the unifying force between Turks and Kurds. “Only belief can heal the brotherhood that has been split by neo-nationalists,” Aköz said. The other thing noticed by Aköz in Erdoğan’s speech was his emphasis on the common history of Turks and Kurds that dates back a long time. The third thing Erdoğan dwelled on in his speech was his party’s development projects for the region, Aköz noted. “To sum up, against the neo-nationalism of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party [BDP], Erdoğan presented the Kurdish citizens with our common beliefs, our common history and the share they will have in a developing Turkey. We will see which one of these is significant for Kurds on June 12,” explains Aköz.
Akşam’s Nagehan Alçı was a little bit disappointed about Erdoğan’s speech at the Diyarbakır rally and said instead of using an embracing language and going beyond the statements of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Erdoğan opted to criticize the CHP and its leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. In his speech, Erdoğan accused the CHP and its policies of being the cause of Turkey’s Kurdish problem.
Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal said Erdoğan did not say anything new in Diyarbakır and his speech was even less promising than the speeches he delivered in the city previous to this. Cemal is critical of Erdoğan’s language and his “aggressive” attacks and criticism of the BDP, the PKK, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the CHP. Cemal thinks heavily criticizing these parties is not helping the Kurdish problem or preventing violence, and is of the opinion that Erdoğan needs to take the region’s sensitivities into account
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held his long-awaited election rally in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakır on Wednesday, where he was welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd. In his speech, which included messages of unity, Erdoğan tried to find common ground between Kurds and Turks by reminding people of what their commonalities were. Regarding the solution to the Kurdish problem, Erdoğan did not make any new promises but pledged to continue government efforts to resolve the issue. Comments and criticism about the prime minister’s Diyarbakır speech found their way into newspaper columns extensively yesterday.
Sabah’s Emre Aköz, who had the opportunity to follow Erdoğan’s Diyarbakır rally in Diyarbakır, commented on Erdoğan’s speech and said the prime minister dwelled on “commonalities” between Kurds and Turks, adopting a “unifying” language against the separatist power of Kurdish and Turkish neo-nationalism. The first thing that attracted Aköz’s attention regarding Erdoğan’s speech was his reference to Islam as the unifying force between Turks and Kurds. “Only belief can heal the brotherhood that has been split by neo-nationalists,” Aköz said. The other thing noticed by Aköz in Erdoğan’s speech was his emphasis on the common history of Turks and Kurds that dates back a long time. The third thing Erdoğan dwelled on in his speech was his party’s development projects for the region, Aköz noted. “To sum up, against the neo-nationalism of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party [BDP], Erdoğan presented the Kurdish citizens with our common beliefs, our common history and the share they will have in a developing Turkey. We will see which one of these is significant for Kurds on June 12,” explains Aköz.
Akşam’s Nagehan Alçı was a little bit disappointed about Erdoğan’s speech at the Diyarbakır rally and said instead of using an embracing language and going beyond the statements of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Erdoğan opted to criticize the CHP and its leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. In his speech, Erdoğan accused the CHP and its policies of being the cause of Turkey’s Kurdish problem.
Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal said Erdoğan did not say anything new in Diyarbakır and his speech was even less promising than the speeches he delivered in the city previous to this. Cemal is critical of Erdoğan’s language and his “aggressive” attacks and criticism of the BDP, the PKK, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and the CHP. Cemal thinks heavily criticizing these parties is not helping the Kurdish problem or preventing violence, and is of the opinion that Erdoğan needs to take the region’s sensitivities into account