Kurdish party hails federation

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

The Rights and Liberties Party (HAKPAR) has called for a Turkish-Kurdish federation in its presentation at Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission, which is tasked with drawing up a new charter for Turkey.

The drive to draw up a new constitution offered two major opportunities for Turkey: to resolve peacefully the Kurdish conflict and install a fully democratic system, HAKPAR Deputy Chairman Hasan Dağtekin said at the presentation.

“The Kurdish issue is aggravating Turkey’s other problems. While making the new constitution, the Kurdish issue must be solved through peaceful and democratic methods,” Dağtekin said, according to information obtained by the Hürriyet Daily News.

He said a federal state system would end the conflict and pointed to the examples of Canada, Switzerland and Belgium.

Kurds should be able to set up parties based on Kurdish identity, Dağtekin said, adding that free speech and the right to organize must be fully guaranteed. Calling for the abolition of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, he said all non-Muslim communities and Islamic faiths outside the Sunni sect should enjoy equal freedoms.