Turkey Live Coverage (23 May): Tough Line on "Counter-Terrorism"...and Israel's Military
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 12:23
1725 GMT: Diyarbakir's Mayor Osman Baydemir hosted the native Indian music group Inca Sol. Baydemir said:
Kurdish people understand you very well. Kurds have experienced the same tragedies your forefathers had faced. We would like you to know that Kurdish people has great respect to your people.
1600 GMT: Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin accused the Assad regime for allowing PKK members to establish bases in Syrian territory. He claimed that even some PKK gorups were running small towns close to the Turkish border. Şahin continued:
Syria is turning a blind eye to terrorist groupings in areas close to the border to put Turkey in difficulty and perhaps as a way to take revenge on Turkey.
As known, Syria has also been accusing Turkey for training and arming the opposition forces within the turkish territories which is denied by Ankara.
1445 GMT: During his visit to Kazakhstan, Erdogan told his counterpart Karim Mansimov that they were very pleased to have carried the bilateral relations to strategic partnership in 2009.
After he had stated that the total amount of Turkish business investment in the country reached around $2.5 billion, Erdogan said to Mansimov:
My brother, you know that I want 3 kids from each family in Turkey. You should say here not 3 but 5! Because all financial opportunities along with a vast area over 2 million 700 thousand square meters are fine.