TUNCELI - Participating in the Tunceli Municipal Congress of the ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP), Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that there is no ethnic nationalism in the AKP.
''We are against ethnic nationalism. There are ethnic elements (in Turkey). However we consider all Turks, Kurds, Lazs, Circassians, Georgians, Abhazas, Bosnians, Albanians and any other (ethnic) groups as equals,'' said Erdogan.
Premier Erdogan stressed that despite different ethnic backgrounds the concept of the citizenship of Turkey binds everyone together. ''Therefore, we say that we have one flag, one Turkish nation and one Turkish homeland,'' noted Erdogan.
Erdogan added that the AKP will make every part of Turkey economically developed. ''It would be wrong to focus ourselves just on the Marmara, Aegean or Mediterranean regions since the Black Sea, East and South-East Anatolia also deserve high attention'', he remarked.