ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The push in Ankara to find a political solution to the so-called Kurdish question has brought new challenges to the ruling Justice and Development Party.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has secured the backing of political, labor and military leaders for a government initiative meant to resolve lingering issues over the ambitions of the Kurdish minority and conflicts with Kurdish separatists.
National security officials called in interior ministers to move forward with plans that provide economic assistance, cultural recognition and other concessions to ethnic Kurds. Meanwhile, a general amnesty offer is on the table for some rebels with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
But members of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, said political solutions amount to nothing short of sedition, reports The National, a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates.
"It is clear as daylight that the prime minister's project, which he wants society to adopt, is aimed at fulfilling, step by step, the demands of ethnic separatists," said MHP leader Devlet Bahceli.
Pressure is mounting, however, as 25 years of conflict have taken their toll on the Turkish military and security officials come to realize finding a military solution has so far failed.
Meanwhile, pro-Kurdish groups continue to wait for word from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was expected to deliver his own roadmap on Aug. 15.
