“How can you stand against this people?”, two Kurdish mothers asked Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, when the Turkish Prime Minister visited Amed (Diyarbakir, in Turkish), the main city in Northern Kurdistan. Erdogan outlined plans for economic rehabilitation of the region which should bring improvements to sanitary and transport infrastructure, lead to more schools being built and create a Kurdish-language television channel.

“Greater prosperity and freedom will be to the benefit of all our fellow citizens, and the terrorist organization will be defeated”, the PM added, and he defined the plan as a "social rehabilitation and fraternity programme". With his economic development plan, Erdogan is trying to show he is willing to make compromises following an intense military campaign in the mountains of Kurdistan, especially near to the Iraqi border.

Kurdish politicians once again rejected Ankara’s proposals, claiming that economic measures would need to be followed by “more serious” political and cultural reforms in order to guarantee respect for the Kurdish people. Some politicians, including the Mayor of Amed, Osman Baydemir, and other members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), boycotted Erdogan’s speech, as Kurdistan National Assembly reports.

Massive call for peace
There was also a reaction to the PM’s proposals in Istanbul. Tens of thousands (over a hundred thousand according to Kurdish Info) took part in a protest calling for a peaceful resolution to the Kurdistan conflict. Under the banner “Enough is enough” protestors called for an end to the state-led war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a conflict which continues to affect civilian Kurds on both sides of the border between Turkey and Iraq.

The demonstration was organized by the Peace Assembly and was attended by both Kurds and Turks from various spheres of civil society. NGO members, journalists, trade unionists and students protested against Erdogan’s “lies”, referring to his economic development plan. According to Turkish Daily News, Ayhan Bilgen asked the Government, on behalf of the Peace Assembly, to draw up a new constitution in order to guarantee equality between Kurds and Turks, and claimed that it would not be possible for both groups to live together until Kurdish language and literature form part of the “public sphere”.

Further information:

• Kurdish Info: Over 100 thousand people gathered to say 'Edi Bese, enough is enough'
  
• Le Monde: Le premier ministre turc annonce un plan de développement de la région kurde
  
• Turkish Daily News: Tens of thousands in Istanbul rally for peace