THE HAGUE
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, Erdogan underlined that he considered Ocalan's message read during Nowruz celebrations in Diyarbakir province as a positive development.
"Ocalan's call is a positive development. There are groups who make living from terror in Turkey. This is a process which would end the game of such groups," Erdogan stressed.
Erdogan added that he would have been pleased to see the Turkish flag in Diyarbakir during the Nowruz celebrations on Thursday.
"The fact that the Turkish flag could not be seen during Nowruz celebrations in Diyarbakir was a provocative approach of those trying to negatively affect the solution process," Erdogan also said.
A message of the jailed head of terrorist PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, was read Thursday in Turkish and Kurdish at Nowruz celebrations in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province.
Peace and Democracy Party lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder read the message in Turkish following BDP Group deputy Chairman Pervin Buldan reading the statement of Ocalan in Kurdish.
"We have reached the point where the guns must be silenced and where ideas must speak. A new era has started, where it is politics, not guns, which is at the forefront. We have reached the stage where our armed elements need to retreat beyond the border," the message said.
"Hundreds of thousands and millions of people whose hearts burn with the fire of Nowruz say 'peace' and ask for resolution. Our struggle has never been or will never be against any sect, ethnic group or religion. Our struggle was against oppression, ignorance, inequality and all kinds of pressure. Today we are waking up to a new Turkey, new Middle East and new future," it said.
"We have reached the point where the guns must be silenced and where ideas must speak. A new era has started, where it is politics, not guns, which is at the forefront. I believe those who have opened their hearts to me and believed in the process will be cautious to the sensitivity of the process till it reaches an end. This is not an end but a new beginning. It is not giving up our struggle but beginning a new one," Ocalan said.
"The truth that our mutual past puts forth is that we have to build our mutual future together. The spirit present during the establishment of the Turkish parliament enlightens the new era today.
"We are going to unite against those who try to separate us and put us in conflict against each other. Those who can not read the spirit of time are bound to go to the dump of history. Those who resist the flow of water, fall to the abyss," the message said.
Writing by Emre Solak
