Aug. 26 (Bloomberg.com) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pledge to give more rights to the Kurdish minority has reignited the debate over what the government should do to end insurgent attacks and appease the European Union. Erdogan, 51, promised ``more democracy'' for minorities and became the first Turkish leader to say the government had made mistakes in its treatment of the Kurds during an Aug. 12 speech in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast. The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which seeks autonomy for the southeast, responded with a one-month cease-fire.

The gesture by Erdogan may halt the resurgence of a civil war that has cost 35,000 lives and aid Turkey's bid to join the EU, which has criticized limits on Kurdish rights. Erdogan still faces the challenge of winning support from the army and general public. His overture may put Turkey on a ``very dangerous road,'' columnist Melih Asik wrote Aug. 19 in the Istanbul daily Milliyet.

``Erdogan is probably telling the military that it's evident the use of force doesn't resolve these problems,'' said Kemal Kirisci, 50, co-author of ``The Kurdish Question and Turkey,'' (Frank Cass Publishers, 1997). ``But while there are people in the Turkish system who want to go further with reforms, there are also people who are saying, `Whoa, hold it!'''

Turkey's constitution makes the military the guardian of the country's unity and secular state. While the army's powers have been reduced since 2002, it has forced four governments from power since 1960. Officers on the National Security Council this week objected to Erdogan's admission that there is a ``Kurdish problem,'' the Istanbul-based daily Vatan reported Aug. 24.

Kurdish Language

Kurds are asking the government to permit public schools to teach the Kurdish language and to lower the percentage of votes political parties must receive to gain seats in parliament. The current 10 percent threshold has kept Kurdish parties out of the legislature. Erdogan is asking private television stations to carry Kurdish programs, Milliyet reported Aug. 17.

Erdogan's statements mark progress, says Yusuf Akgun, 38, the deputy mayor of Diyarbakir. In the 1960s and '70s Turkish governments wouldn't admit that the Kurds existed, telling people to refer to them as ``mountain Turks.''

``The Kurds have heard a lot of promises in the past,'' Akgun said in an Aug. 17 interview. ``But the prime minister has said things that make us hope it will be different this time.''

The conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK has threatened to spread in recent months. The military has finalized plans for strikes against PKK camps in northern Iraq, where they say about 3,000 fighters are based, Milliyet said Aug. 18, citing a speech by General Sukru Sariisik.

Northern Iraq

Generals and ministers have said Turkey may launch such attacks if the U.S., which has about 140,000 troops in Iraq, doesn't fulfill promises to crack down on the PKK. The U.S. says Turkey shouldn't act without the approval of Iraqi authorities.

In the 1990s, at the height of Turkey's war with the PKK, the southeast was under emergency rule and people suspected of links with the rebels were routinely tortured, according to Turkey's Human Rights Association, based in the capital, Ankara.

PKK leader Abdulla Ocalan called a cease-fire in 1999 after he was captured by Turkish agents in Kenya. He was convicted of treason later that year and is serving a life sentence in a Turkish jail.

The PKK resumed attacks in June 2004, saying Turkey hadn't done enough to meet Kurdish demands. Fighting had escalated in recent months. The PKK on Aug. 19 said it would cease hostilities for one month to allow the government to take ``practical steps.''

EU Concerns

Erdogan's government said it wouldn't respond to a group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.

The EU said in its 2004 annual report on Turkey that there were still ``considerable restrictions on the exercise of cultural rights'' for Kurds. It called on Turkey to allow greater use of the Kurdish language in education and broadcasting.

Turkey is also grappling with the legacy of another ethnic conflict. Armenians say hundreds of thousands of their people were killed in 1915 in a genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey. The claim is backed by parliamentary votes in France and Germany. Turkey says the killings occurred amid civil unrest during World War I and weren't genocide.

Kurdish activists focus on language rights and poverty. Many Kurds are illiterate in the language they grew up speaking.

``I can't read this,'' said Sahin Altuntur, a textile trader in Diyarbakir's bazaar district, pointing to a Kurdish language text message on his mobile phone. ``I'll have to find someone more cultured to do it. With my friends we talk Kurdish, but at school they only taught us to read and write in Turkish.''

The country's five poorest provinces are all in Kurdish areas, according to government statistics for 2001. Unemployment in Diyarbakir is around 70 percent and tens of thousands leave the city each summer for seasonal farm work elsewhere, Akgun said.

The conflict with the PKK is the chief cause of underdevelopment, said Shah Ismail Bedirhanoglu, head of the region's biggest business group.

``Money is like a bird, when it hears a bang it flies away,'' said Bedirhanoglu, 45. ``Where there's war, there's no investment.''

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Holland in Istanbul at bholland1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 25, 2005 19:08 EDT