ISTANBUL — Turkey marked 25 years Saturday since the first Kurdish rebel attacks, with political leaders calling for reconciliation, though the government has yet to offer a new plan for ending the conflict.
Fighting has died down since the 1990s, but the Kurdish conflict remains a drag on Turkey’s drive to modernity and an obstacle to the country’s joining the European Union.
Kurdish activists held a festival Saturday in Eruh, where extra security forces were deployed. Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin called for reconciliation with the country’s Kurdish minority.
“I see a great advantage in putting aside all prejudice,” he said on Turkish television, dismissing nationalist claims that allowing Kurds to have more rights would “divide Turkey.” The Associated Press
