Minister Tekin: As a result of 23 years of struggle, we have achieved the goal of a terror-free Türkiye

Minister Tekin answered questions from members of the press before the AK Party group meeting in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Minister Tekin, regarding the decision to dissolve the terrorist organization PKK, said, "What we define as success is definitely not an issue that can be confined to the last 1-1.5 years. Since the beginning, our President has carried out the solution of this problem not from a security perspective, but from a brotherhood perspective, from a fundamental rights and freedoms perspective and from a democracy perspective. It is a natural result of the steps taken on this issue so far; terrorist organizations no longer have anything to say on this issue. Similarly, our Armed Forces and security forces have waged a very serious struggle on this issue; we should also thank them. The incident progressed in two dimensions. It progressed both with the security dimension and in this sense, our President said; look, what were we discussing in those years? We were discussing whether Ahmet Kaya should sing Kurdish songs or not. With the AK Party government, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of National Education, and public institutions accepted this as a democratic human right and steps were taken in this regard. Kurdish courses, Kurdish lessons were opened in the Ministry of National Education, elective lessons were opened, and teacher appointments were made. The Ministry of Culture published Kurdish intellectual, cultural and artistic works, theaters were broadcast, Kurdish music, Kurdish television; all necessary steps were taken in this regard. In those years, nearly 150 thousand of our citizens were forcibly removed from their villages. This was one of the first actions of the AK Party after it came to power. Therefore, this issue is not in recent years; we have reached this goal of a terror-free Turkey as a result of approximately 23 years of struggle. I would like to express my gratitude to our President, Nationalist Movement Party Leader Devlet Bahçeli, our Armed Forces and security forces for their efforts. Our duty is to continue this. Much better days await Türkiye from now on. A Türkiye that can be an example to the world in every respect seems to be emerging," he said.

'I AM HAPPY THAT THERE ARE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT EDUCATION'

Minister Tekin, regarding the discussions on the 12-year compulsory education process, said, "As the Minister of National Education, I am happy that there are discussions on education. Good things are good; they should be discussed. If there is an expectation or demand in the public, we will do our work on that. This has been our statement from the beginning. Regarding the 12-year compulsory education, it is being discussed and talked about in both international reports and domestic political discussions that some negative and problematic areas have emerged regarding the 12-year compulsory education. We are also monitoring. Ultimately, at the end of the year, we will evaluate these discussions internally and reach a decision. As I said, we are just monitoring. There is a monitoring and evaluation department within each of our general directorates in the ministry regarding this issue; they are responsible for monitoring both the policy areas related to their general directorates and such discussions in the public and producing the necessary solutions; they are also following the work."

'WE DO NOT HAVE ANY SUCH WORK CURRENTLY'

Minister Tekin also stated that there was no problem for him regarding the 12-year education process, and said, "There are some groups in the field, such as the business world, that have expressed their discomfort on this issue. They say that they have difficulty in providing intermediate staff. But as I said, we, as a ministry, are not currently involved in such a study. We are only following these discussions."

DHA

Editor: News Center