Hannes Swoboda, vice-chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, has said that they always warned representatives of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) that they should make a certain distinction between the Kurdish issue and terrorism, do something tangible for their own people and keep their distance with Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK.
Swoboda and an accompanying delegation paid a visit to Turkish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Deputy Chairman Mehmet Ceylan, reported World Bulletin.
Ceylan said at the meeting, "we are determined to maintain our reform progress and broaden fundamental rights and freedoms in order to improve our people's living standards. We, as the Turkish party, try to do everything in our power. On the other hand, we except the EU to fulfil its commitments". He said that the negotiation process should be speeded up.
"Turkey has been fighting against the PKK for years. It explains the issue as if it is a Kurdish problem or an ethnic regional problem, and some of our European counterparts believe in their explanations. There is no Kurdish issue in Turkey. It is totaly made up by PKK. All people including Turks, Kurds and the others have lived peacefully on these lands for centuries, and they will continue to live together in the future," he said.
Swoboda, in his part, said that they welcomed the Turkish government's package to boost economic development of the eastern and southeastern regions.