President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey is a “republic of Turks and Kurds”, the Anadolu Agency reported, quoted by BTA.
Turkey is a republic of all who live in this country, added the president, who was speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary group of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The statement of the Turkish head of state was made a week after the bloody attack against the Turkish aerospace company "TUSAS" in Ankara, in which five people died and 22 were injured. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, last week Nationalist Action Party (PND) leader Devlet Bahceli called for PKK leader Abdullah Yocalan to be released from prison if he renounces violence and disbands the group.
Erdogan today joined Bahceli's call.
Dear Kurdish brothers and sisters, we expect you to sincerely grasp this hand extended to you by Mr. Bahceli, said the head of state, thus publicly supporting this initiative for the first time.
However, we make a clear distinction with terrorist groups operating from Iraq and Syria, Erdogan added.