Turkish PM Davutoğlu says Kurdish peace bid a 'vital national project'

ORDU

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu waves at his ruling party's supporters in Ordu. AA photo

The government-led process to find a solution to the decades-old Kurdish problem is a "vital national project" that should be treated with patience, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.
      
Speaking at a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) meeting in the Black Sea province of Ordu on Feb. 14, Davutoğlu said the latest talks on a resolution over the issue have raised the tempo of the process.

“Each and every ideology in Turkey should embrace democracy and give up armed struggle,” the prime minister said.

“In such an environment, the democracy will expand and we will be able to talk on many things much freely,” he added.

Kurdish peace bid was launched in 2013 by the government with the aim of ending the decades-old conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

At meetings held in two consecutive days earlier this week, Deputy PM Yalçın Akdoğan and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) delegation, composed of Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pervin Buldan and Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder, drafted a “joint statement” which was put forward as a condition by the jailed leader of the outlawed PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, for the announcement of a “reinforced cease-fire.” 

In order not to encounter any problem from the PKK side, the HDP sent the text to the PKKheadquarters in Iraq. 

The focus of the meetings was to agree to a joint text that would provide a framework for the resolution process and the joint announcement of that text together by representatives of the government, the AKP and the HDP. 

A general conciliation was arrived on the text which included 10 demands from Öcalan and the HDP concerning a “democratic republic.”

Davutoğlu also announced an action plan to increase tourism and agriculture potential in the country's eastern Black Sea region.

"We aim to turn this region into a center of attraction both in Turkey and in Caucasia by 2023," he said.

The action plan, called DOKAP, includes projects in the fields of transportation and energy, trade and tourism, infrastructure and urban transformation, modern irrigation systems, and economic and social development, such as establishing sport centers and libraries.

Davutoğlu also said a new gate will be opened on the country's Georgia border in order to improve relations.