Eurasia Press & News
ANKARA, Turkey
Chief of General Staff General Ilker Basbug said on Monday (June 22nd) the only solution in the fight against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is to dissolve it and make it lay down its weapons. “As long as the PKK continues the armed fight, it is a mistake to think that only economic, social and cultural measures may bring a solution”, Basbug told those attending a seminar in Istanbul.
He was responding to recently-announced plans by the government to seek a peaceful solution to the decades-long Kurdish issue by expanding the Kurdish minority’s social and cultural rights.
Basbug also called on NATO members to overcome their differences and adopt a common stance against terrorism. “This problem can only be solved by collective efforts of all nations, particularly NATO members,” he stressed. More than 180 representatives of NATO and EU member states, countries from the Partnership for Peace and the Mediterranean Dialogue programmes are participating in the two-day Silk Road seminar. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro sent their chiefs of staff.
