What more do Kurds want, Erdo?an asks

Anticipation is growing about a breakthrough on the Kurdish issue this Nevruz amid intense talks between the government and militants, but President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an turned back the clock several years on March 15 to claim that Turkey does not have any ?Kurdish problem,? arguing that Kurds have equal rights with the rest of the country.

?The only thing in their eyes is the Kurdish question. What are you talking about? There is no such thing, there is no Kurdish question. I explained it in 2005 in Diyarbak?r,? Erdo?an hectored during a speech in the northwestern province of Bal?kesir. In 2005, Erdo?an, who was then prime minister, argued that the Kurdish question was not the problem of Kurds alone, but a problem for the whole country, including himself.

?We never had a Kurdish problem in this country. But it?s being kept on the agenda on purpose. We resolved this issue in my speech in 2005 in Diyarbak?r. My Kurdish citizens may have problems but he or she has problems as much as Turkish citizens have,? he said.  

Erdo?an repeated this understanding in consecutive statements over the weekend, at a moment when negotiations between the government and the Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) have begun to foster a promising environment for the resolution of the decades-old problem. There are expectations that the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) will deliver an important message to PKK officials for the disarmament of the organization in due course.

But Erdo?an?s statements overlooked the recent promising developments. ?Whose duty is it to resolve your problem? The government?s. Aren?t we doing this? Tell me, my friends, what don?t you have? What?s missing? As Kurds, didn?t you have a president? Didn?t...