Eurasia Press & News
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled a long-anticipated reform package on Monday to facilitate a settlement process aiming to end a three- decade Kurdish insurgency.
Under the framework of political party amendments, parties will be able to make their election campaigns in languages other than Turkish, Erdogan said, a move that allows Kurdish politicians to hold activities in Kurdish.
Erdogan did not set a certain amendment on the threshold for a party to enter parliament, which is currently 10 percent. But he put forward alternatives, including reducing the threshold to five percent or even eliminating the barrier, which may allow more parties, including pro-Kurdish political parties, to enter parliament.
Education in languages other than Turkish in private schools will be possible, Erdogan said.
Although the government dismisses links between the package and the ongoing Kurdish settlement process, since the long-awaited reforms were demanded as part of negotiations with outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), the package is seen as a milestone in the negotiation process with the Kurds launched in 2012.
The package is a result of Turkey’s long path of democratization, but it’s not the last step of amendments to consolidate the country’s democratization, Erdogan said Monday at a press conference in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
