Turkish PM softens line on Kurdish broadcast ban

Ecevit

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Bulent c said in remarks published on Tuesday that Turkey must "sooner or later" consider allowing broadcasts in the Kurdish language, which the EU has demanded before the start of membership talks.

But his nationalist coalition partner said concessions on cultural rights could fuel ethnic and social conflict.

The European Union told Turkey last week it must make sweeping changes to its economy and its handling of human rights issues before it can open negotiations on membership.

Though the bloc avoided antagonizing Ankara by referring specifically to the Kurds or using the word "minority," the report made clear the current ban on broadcasting in the Kurdish language would have to go.

Ecevit said in an interview in the newspaper Hurriyet that Turkey had to take account of the realities of modern life.

"There is no limit to modern communication technology," he was quoted as saying. "Broadcasts in Kurdish reach Turkey from northern Iraq and Europe at the moment. We have to reach a result taking this into consideration."

Turkey has long refused to recognize its 12 million Kurds, who account for about 20 percent of the population, as a minority group, fearing that such recognition could lead to a breakup of the country.

But since the capture of Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan last year, a 16-year-old campaign of separatist violence has largely ceased and there has been some discussion of Kurdish language rights in broadcasting and education.

Gokhan Aydiner, the governor of the southeastern region under emergency rule, said on Tuesday that clashes between security forces and guerrillas had dropped by 80 percent in the first 10 months of 2000 compared to the same period of 1999.

Turkey has relaxed some controls on the use of Kurdish but further concessions -- including allowing broadcasting -- would be opposed by the powerful army and nationalist politicians.

A satellite channel that mirrors the views of Ocalan's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has broadcast from western Europe, and programmes broadcast by Kurds across the border in Iraq can also be picked up in Turkey.

Asked what his three-party coalition's view was of the EU demands on Kurdish language broadcasting, Ecevit said:

"Cultural rights are granted de facto anyway. You know there are magazines and books published...I shouldn't be stating my own views as it has not been discussed in the government. But that will come to the agenda sooner or later," he said.

Any move to allow broadcasting in Kurdish is likely to be opposed by Ecevit's main coalition partner, the nationalist MHP party led by deputy prime minister Devlet Bahceli.

Nationalists and the army are determined not to make concessions to Ocalan and the PKK that might be viewed as rewarding a campaign that killed over 30,000 people.

Ecevit said Bahceli was "a realistic person."

"Of course, there are subjects over which we have difficulties. But these are the rules of the club in the end."

Bahceli sounded less flexible on Tuesday.

"It is impossible to say that the European Commission is making a goodwill approach. It is not possible for Turkey to look warmly at cultural and ethnic rights that can fuel ethnic clashes and division," Bahceli told members of his party at a parliamentary meeting.

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