REPLY BY EGEMEN BAGIS TO INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis sent a letter to International Herald Tribune in reply to the article about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

In his reply on the article titled as “Erdogan Stokes the Sectarian Fires” written by Halil Karaveli on 8th October, Minister Bagis indicated that Prime Minister Erdogan was falsely accused and said that the steps taken by the Government were not sectarian, instead they embraced the whole nation and the new democratization package was a recent proof of this determination.

Minister Bagis, stating that the article not only tried to justify the 1960 coup and called even for a new one, said “The article also falsely accuses Prime Minister Erdogan to stoke sectarian tensions in Turkey.”

Bagis, underlining that Turkey’s impressive reform process ongoing since 2002 that had been characterized by many eminent scholars as a “silent revolution” had changed democratic standards radically, said “Turkey is no more a country of coups. The steps taken by the Government have never been sectarian. We have been taking steps to embrace the whole nation regardless of faith, ethnic origin or life-style. The new democratization package announced on 30 September 2013 is a recent proof of this determination.”

Minister Bagis indicating that from the electoral system, to the Kurdish issue, from hate crimes to protection of personal data, the democratization package covered various issues to respond the aspirations of our people said the followings:

“Thanks to the package; respect for different life-styles are safeguarded with the Turkish Penal Code; education in different languages including Kurdish is allowed in private schools; use of letters of q, x, w that is part of the Kurdish alphabet is no more restricted; Mor Gabriel Monastery has been returned to the Syriac community (1 billion dollar worth of property has been returned to minority foundations in the last 2 years); a public university in Nevsehir has been named after Haci Bektas-i Veli, a pivotal figure of the Alevi-Bektasi tradition.”

Bagis indicating that as a next step, the Government was working on another package to meet the outstanding issues of Alevis and the demands of our Alevi citizens were being taken into account attentively for the first time in the history of the Republic, said “How can Prime Minister Erdogan be accused of stoking sectarian fires when he is taking such radical steps shaking the establishment? As Caliph Ali says “There is enough light for one who wants to see.”