Atalay warns on need of complete change in Turkish mindset

Yesterday Turkey’s Parliament held hearings on democratic reform plan related to “Kurdish initiative” and proposed by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In particularly, this plan involves concessions in fields of culture and language for Kurdish people in Turkey as well as proposal to restore historical names of hundreds of Kurdish places in Turkey. The Kurdish Initiative Plan proposes to allow using of Kurdish language in public and political events, to open Departments of Kurdish language and Literature at some Turkey’s universities, and, at least, to provide some Kurdish broadcasting.

The reform package was presented to Parliament by Turkey’s Minister of Interior Besir Atalay.

"We want everyone in this country to be treated equally," he said, at the same time warning that there would need to be a complete change in the mindset of the Turkish people to achieve that goal.

Meanwhile during the more than an hour long speech, Minister of Interior refused to refer specifically to the Kurds as well as voiced no single word about any possible amnesty for militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

As expected, a peace plan caused a great protest among the Turkish opposition which now blames the ruling Justice and Development Party for ‘demagoguery’ and argues that actually Turkey under its dream to enter the European Union is trying to cajole the EU through this plan, and doesn’t have a goal to solve the decades-old Kurdish issue. One of the radical minded leaders even said that the Turkish government lacks the courage to confront the terrorists.