There's no Kurdish issue in Turkey just terrorism: Erdoan

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkey has no Kurdish problem but only a terrorism problem PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoanhas said maintaining his bellicose rhetoric on the conflagration in Southeast Anatolia.

All ethnic groups in Turkey have their own specific problems and the government has been constantly exerting efforts to eliminate these problems Erdoan said in a speech delivered on Jan. 6.

“But in Turkey there are those who have one-track minds: ‘Kurdish problem and Kurdish problem Kurdish problem and Kurdish problem.’ You cannot get anyone to buy it” Erdoan said addressing around 400 muhtars from villages and districts of nine different provinces whom he hosted at a regular meeting at the presidential palace.

“We closed this matter in myDiyarbakrspeech in 2005. We said then ‘There is no such problem in Turkey anymore you cannot explain this to anybody. There is a terror problem in Turkey” he said.

On this occasion Erdoan also touched upon ongoing debates over the possibility of lifting the parliamentary immunity of deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) which both he and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accuse of supporting the outlawedKurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK).

“In principle I am against party closures. I find it needless. However the price for a crime committed by any politician should be personally paid by himself but not institutionally by his party. This person may be a party leader lawmaker a mayor or member of a municipal council. No matter who he is he should pay the price. That is it” he said.

During a convention held late last month the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) an association of Kurdish political organizations that includes the HDP released a declaration calling for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast escalating political tensions at a time of renewed clashes between the security forces andPKKmilitants.

HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirta was one of the participants at the two-day congress that called for more self-governance during which he said “There will be a Kurdistan in the next century and it could include an independent state.” A prosecutor opened an investigation into Demirta on Dec. 28 2015 over his call while Erdoan also said he supported criminal probes into HDP leaders over their comments on democratic autonomy.

“The titles of lawmaker mayor and party leader cannot and should not save anyone from paying the price before the law if he has stood by the terrorist organization. Whatever the legal mandates for other members of the terrorist organization are they should also be applied for these persons. Parliamentary immunity is a privilege for better service to the nation in parliament not to serve as a curtain for the terrorist organization” he said.

Bees and coups

While underlining the need for a transition from the current parliamentary system into a presidential system Erdoan claimed that the existing system had paved the way for military coups d’état in the past.

“I said a ‘Turkish style’ or ‘Turkey style’ presidential system. They began to attack. These [opponents] do not want their own country’s brand either. Are we obliged to necessarily talk about AmericanFrenchor this and that system?” he asked before using a metaphor he previously used – in a bid to better explain his point about an authentic Turkish-style presidential system.

“We will gather from all of them so to speak. We will gather from this and from that from all of them and then we will make our honey and present it to our nation. The issue is as simple as that” he said.

Last week Erdoan appeared to be suggest Hitler’s Germany could be a model for a Turkish presidential system. “There’s no such thing as ‘no presidential system in unitarian states.’ When you look at the world there are examples including from the past. When you look at Hitler’s Germany you see this” he said after a visit to Saudi Arabia. Erdoan later claimed his words were misinterpreted.

In February 2015 Erdoan used the same metaphorical explanation in which he likened himself and his comrades to bees. “With the skillfulness of a bee let’s gather our share from flowers and then turn it into honey” he said suggesting that they would eventually form an “authentic presidential system framed by Turkish customs and traditions.”

Erdoan said he had never heard of anyone who was pleased with the current parliamentary system. “I believe that this system which constantly invites coups interventions and crises has no use for my country and my nation” he said.

All of Turkey’s opposition parties have consistently expressed their support for the current parliamentary system.