Madam, - With reference to the letter by "Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland" (April 3rd) which obviously exceeds its stated aim of condemning the war against Iraq, I would like to bring to your readers' attention the following:
Turkey is a country with centuries of unique historical and cultural experience, and with a population of 65 million people from various ethnic origins. All citizens enjoy equal rights and are subject to the same laws.
Nobody is discriminated due to his/her ethnic background.
Turkey has recently introduced far-reaching reforms on her way to the EU membership. To this end five harmonisation packages (February, March, August 2002 and January and February 2003) have been enacted in order to align several laws and constitutional articles with the EU standards. Removing legal restrictions on the learning of and broadcasting in different languages and dialects traditionally used by Turkish citizens constitute part of these reforms.
Nevruz (New Year) is celebrated by Kurds, Persians, Turks, Azeris, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Kirgiz, Khazaks etc. alike, whichever country they may live in. In Turkey whoever wants to celebrate Nevruz, they are free to do so and indeed they do.
During the last Gulf War more than half a million refugees came into Turkey including many PKK-KADEK terrorists, which inflamed terrorism. Taking this past experience into consideration, the Turkish Grand National Assembly has authorised the Government to use Turkish troops to stop the influx of refugees within Northern Iraq and contribute to the distribution of humanitarian aid. Turkey has no intention of entering into Iraq with ulterior motives.
We uphold the territorial integrity, political sovereignty and national unity of Iraq. - Yours, etc.,
NESRIN BAYAZIT, Counsellor, Turkish Embassy, 11 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4