May 27, 2008 | The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey: Kurdish politicians boycotted a major speech by Turkey's prime minister on Tuesday to protest what they say is the government's refusal to recognize the country's Kurdish minority.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, to give details of plans he first unveiled in March for economic and cultural initiatives for the region.

He suggested spending some US$14.5 billion (€9.2 billion) over five years to improve the arid region's agriculture, with most of the money earmarked for building hydroelectric dams and irrigation projects as well as clearing land mines along the border with Syria.

He said the projects would improve farming, help avert a future energy bottleneck and create jobs.

In addition, Erdogan said, a TV channel with Kurdish-language programing would soon be launched. In 1991 Turkey lifted a ban on speaking Kurdish and granted some cultural rights, such as limited TV and radio broadcasts in the language.

But Kurdish politicians said the newest incentives did not go far enough, and they called for the Kurds to be recognized as an official minority with cultural protections and a level of political autonomy. Kurds constitute about 20 percent of Turkey's 70 million population.

Pro-Kurdish Mayor Osman Baydemir and other Kurdish politicians boycotted Erdogan's speech Tuesday to underline those demands. Erdogan responded by saying he was prime minister of the whole country, and that all parties should have attended his speech.

"The people here demand the recognition of Kurdish identity, economic and social plans would not solve the problem of the region," said Nejdet Atalay, the head of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party's branch in Diyarbakir.

Erdogan's latest offer, Atalay said, was aimed only at increasing support for the governing party before next year's local elections.

Specifically, the Kurdish officials said they want to be able to receive education in their language and more freedom to participate in Turkey's democracy.

The 20 Kurdish legislators in Turkey's parliament campaigned in 2007 as independents to get around a requirement that parties pass a 10-percent vote threshold. Once elected as independents, they regrouped under the Democratic Society Party's banner, but the party now faces closure on charges of ties to Kurdish rebels. It is unclear when the Constitutional Court might rule in the case.

Many Kurds have pinned their hopes for receiving recognition on Turkey's push to join the European Union, which has said Ankara's treatment of the Kurds will be a key factor in its decision on whether to accept the country.

Some Turkish nationalists fear that increasing cultural rights for the minority could lead to the breakup of the country along ethnic lines.

Turkey refuses dialogue with Kurdish rebels, who are fighting for autonomy in the southeast, and the Turkish military this year launched air attacks and one major ground offensive against Kurdish rebel bases across the border into Iraq.