Most Turkish support Kurdish initiative: poll

The latest Turkish public opinion poll shows a high level of support for the Kurdish initiative by the government to end the year-long conflict on both the Kurdish and Turkish sides, local Daily News reported on Saturday.
  
The poll was carried out by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, which surveyed 10,577 participants, covering 601 villages and neighborhoods, reported Xinhua.
  
The survey showed that both Turks and Kurds support the government's Kurdish move, revealing that support for the initiative is generally much higher than the political parties perceive it to be.
  
The result of the poll was carried in local Daily News here. The paper also devoted its large space to the Kurdish matter, which has turned into the third biggest issue after the economy and unemployment in the whole country.
  
Although most Kurdish representatives have recently insisted that Kurds do not want to create an independent country, most Turks are distrusting of the claim as separatism was the center of the Kurdish issue for many years.
  
In the survey, 69.9 percent of Turks said they would not have a problem with a Kurdish person marrying into their family. When it came to Kurds, 87.1 percent said that they would marry a Turk. At 33.8 percent, one out of every three Turks has a Kurdish relative, while two out of every three Kurds has a Turkish family member, at 67 percent.
  
Despite everything that happened in the past 25 years, being a Turkish citizen was still the main uniting factor for 86 percent of respondents. The numbers were still strong when examining Kurds and Turks separately: 90 percent for Turks and 62 percent for Kurds.
  
Sharing the same religious beliefs was considered "very effective" by 56 percent and this rate climbed to 87 percent when some effect answers were included. Kurds found the religion factor "very effective" for unity by 60 percent, while the rate was 56 percent for Turks.
  
Turkey boasts of a total population of 70 million, of which Turks make up 80 percent while Kurds account for about 15 percent.
  
Under President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, partly as a result of European Union (EU) pressure, Turkey has begun restoring some political and cultural rights to its Kurdish minority.
  
The Turkish military has been fighting the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by the United States and EU, since 1984 in a war that has killed 40,000 people on both sides. Last month, the government announced that it was working on a Kurdish initiative to win over its Kurdish citizens and erode support for the outlawed PKK.
  
The government said that there will be a change of course in its Kurdish policy and a new package based on extending democratic rights and improving freedoms of Kurds will come out.
  
Local media revealed that the government has decided 10 items as part of its package to solve the Kurdish issue, including Turkey's unitary government will be protected, political campaigns in Kurdish region will be allowed and Kurdish institutes will be established. Children will not be classified as terrorists and Kurds will be free to express themselves.