Turkey Live Coverage (22 March): Military Operations Continue Against Kurdish Group

1920 GMT: Following Israel's confiscation of a Palestinian plot in Valaja village in the West Bank and its plan to turn it into a park for Jewish settlers, a statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Israel's settlement activities despite all warnings by the international community are unacceptable.

It is also stated that Israel is blocking the peace process by its negative position and deprive vision of two state solution by physical conditions it creates in the region. 

1725 GMT: Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said that almost no one earns less than $2 a day in Turkey, and the number of those who earn less than $4 a day is only 3.6 percent.

1650 GMT: A speculation is going on in Ankara that the ruling AKP government has adopted a new policy on the Kurdish issue.

According to officials, the government is abandoning dialogue and negotiations with the leaders of the outlawed terrorist/separatist organisation, PKK. Instead, some believe that the government will hold negotiations with the pro-Kurdish party, BDP; whereas others think that the priority will be given specifically to the Turkish public opinion, in order to prevent increasing anger of Turks against Kurdish people.

Just hours ago, Prime Minister Erdogan called on Kurdish citizens to abandon BDP. If BDP and Ocalan (the imprisoned leader of PKK) are sidelined, then with whom AKP is going to talk? If BDP is wanted to be negotiated with, then the question is that how is it possible to convince the party to change its strategies while the party-Kurdish base alliance is anchored on a nationalistic platform where Ocalan and PKK militia are seen as the leader and "guerillas" of a "freedom-seeking" nation, respectively? 

1530 GMT: Many Cobra helicopters have been sent to bomb the mountain area of Cudi where military operations are continuing.

1500 GMT: Peace and Democracy Party (BDP)'s co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas evaluated the recent developments in the region. Demirtas said:

Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s strategy is not new. It is the national security concept itself that has been planned and carried out earlier. They have wanted to break BDP's will with arrests, psychological war and fear. They have never given up. There is no dialogue and negotiations on AKP's agenda. 

1410 GMT: After talks in Vienna, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for an action on Syria. Referring to Wednesday's UN Security Council decision calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to implement a peace plan offered by special envoy Kofi Annan, Davutoglu said:

We continue to think that Syria is playing for time and we must do something to stop this violence. In order for this human tragedy to end we must act together.

In Damascus in February we were promised that the violence and atrocities would stop, but since then more and more atrocities have taken place. Just making calls is not enough.

1200 GMT: UEFA President Michel Platini has said that the current system unfortunately punishes football clubs although he has agreed with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the notion that clubs should not be punished for the crimes of individuals. Platini said:

The disciplinary committee is an independent body. The clubs should not punished for the fraudulent activities of their presidents, I agree. But that is the system and the clubs pay for the crimes. Is there any other way? Well, it seems unlikely under the given circumstances.

As knowns, a match-fixing scandal that led to the arrests of many players, coaches and chairmen of football clubs hit Turkey before the beginning of the current football season.

1030 GMT: The military operation in the mountain area of Cudi in Sirnak Province is continuing. Six police have been killed, with two soldiers and 10 security personnel wounded. Seven Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members have been slain.

1000 GMT: Prime Minister Erdogan has blamed Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies for "taking orders not from its voters but from Kandil",  the mountanious region in the northern Iraq where the outlawed PKK organisation's leadership is based. Erdogan also called on Kurdish people to abandon the pro-Kurdish party:

I want to address my Kurdish-origin brothers: My brothers, the BDP is a party that cannot stand on its own feet and pursue its own political agenda.

The BDP has not proven itself worthy of protecting your rights; it is under the yoke of terror. How can such a party prioritize your demands?

This party can never create solutions to the Kurdish issue and the problems of my Kurdish-origin brothers.

Once again the BDP did what it does the best – provoking the masses into what was virtually a rehearsal to turn our cities into a battlefield. The terrorist organization [PKK] also did what it does the best – poisoning the spring festival with its calls to turn Nevruz into an uprising.

0925 GMT: Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Referring to the a meeting of the Socialist International's Special Committee on the Arab World that will be hosted by CHP on March 23-24 in Istanbul, Erdogan said:

They will be holding a meeting to defend the brutality in Syria and a regime that has so far killed nearly 10,000 of our brothers. In this way, they claim, they will be looking for a solution for Syria.

0900 GMT: Diyarbakir's Mayor Osman Baydemir has warned: 

Mothers, the day will come when guerillas come down from the mountains. Mothers of guerillas and soldiers will dance. These people have never bowed down to the policies of violence, pressure and intimidation and will never do so! The state's purge policy is vain. The state shed blood in this Newroz. Hundreds of people were taken into custody and wounded.