NETHERLANDS: Turkish prime minister Erdogan says implementation of ceasefire will be the most important step

Record ID: 217616

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Turkish prime minister Erdogan says implementation of ceasefire will be the most important step
  • Date: 21st March 2013
  • Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (MARCH 21, 2013) (AGENCY POOL) MOTORCADE CARRYING TURKISH PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN ARRIVING ERDOGAN GETTING OUT OF CAR AND BEING GREETED BY DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE SOLIDER IN CEREMONIAL DRESS RUTTE AND ERDOGAN PASSING THROUGH GUARD OF HONOUR DUTCH AND TURKISH FLAGS FLYING RUTTE AND ERDOGAN ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUN
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADVWDQQR33G2ADH3TM1ZPXO04G
  • Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that implementation of ceasefire will be the most important step following Kurdish rebel Abdullah Ocalan's call for peace. Rutte rejects appeal by Erdogan for ministerial level talks over case of boy of Turkish origin placed in care of lesbian couple.
    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed as a "positive development" a ceasefire call by jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday (March 21) but said the important part would be its implementation.
    "I think this is a very positive approach, it is a very positive appeal but what is most important is how far this will be implemented," Erdogan told reporters during a visit to The Netherlands.
    Earlier on Thursday, Kurdish rebel Abdullah Ocalan, long reviled in Turkish media as a 'monster', ordered his fighters to withdraw to the mountains of northern Iraq and cease fighting, his words read to hundreds of thousands of Kurds gathered in the regional center Diyarbakir.
    There is still a strong nationalist strain in Turkey that rejects any deal with the prisoner of Imrali island and his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as verging on treason. Erdogan, like Ocalan, is taking risks in publicly pursuing talks with a group classified by the European Union and the United States as well as his own country as terrorist.
    Skeptics fear any deal with Ocalan could lead ultimately to an independent Kurdistan and collapse of the economically resurgent Turkey they see now as a growing force in the region.
    Erdogan, elected in 2002, took the 'Kurdish Question' in hand in a way no government had before him, making concessions on cultural rights and language. But the fighting continued, reaching new heights last summer. Both sides looked for a deal.
    Also on the agenda was the case of a boy of Turkish parentage placed with lesbian foster parents in the Netherlands.
    Rutte rejected an appeal by Erdogan for ministerial-level talks over the case.
    "The placing of Dutch foster children is the responsibility of the Netherlands alone and nobody else's. The Netherlands youth care always looks to see if children can be placed in an environment that matches the cultural background of the children. The fact is that it's not always possible, and then the interest of the child is always the priority. In the end we make no differentiation when placing the child between religion and sexual orientation of the couple that will act as foster parents," said Rutte.
    But Erdogan said that the placement of the child could breach his moral and religious values.
    "In my country this could also lead to misunderstandings. The sexual orientation is important for us. We are talking about a country where the majority of the population is Islamic. Then that goes against that community's values, against moral and religious values," said Erdogan.
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