MILLIYET- Columnist Hasan Pulur writes on a letter Turkey’s Ambassador to Sweden Kuneralp wrote to Swedish newspaper ‘Aftonbladet,’ which had mistakenly labelled a region in Turkey as ‘Kurdistan.’ A summary of his column is as follows:
Recently a Turkish map published by a Swedish newspaper caused a great furor as it showed a region of Turkey under the name of ‘Kurdistan.’ The person who was most harshly criticized in the ensuing flap was Turkey’s Ambassador to Sweden Selim Kuneralp. However, Mr. Kuneralp sent a letter to the newspaper the map had appeared in and the newspaper published the article without editing a word of it. The ambassador began his article by comparing the societies of Sweden and Turkey. He said that Swedes had never had to fight against separatist forces, as no such thing existed on their land. However, he pointed out Turkey had lived with this concern for centuries, and the PKK terrorist campaign had deepened this fear. Mr. Kuneralp noted that Turkey had taken important steps to comply with the Copenhagen criteria in order to be able to be admitted to the EU, but also stated that complying with the Copenhagen criteria didn’t mean establishing minority groups. He added that Turkey viewed all its citizens as being equal. ‘In fact, as the presence of a minority means that there is a ‘second-class’ citizenry, it is not something to be envied for that minority’ he wrote. The important issue for all citizens is to have equal rights, including those of education and broadcasting in their own languages. That is what Turkey is trying to provide.’ Ambassador Kuneralp also commented on what Turkey considered to be more important, the unity of the country or membership in the EU. He said, ‘If the EU and Sweden would like to help these efforts, they must not give the impression that they don’t respect the territorial integrity of Turkey. Since territorial integrity is more important for the Turkish nation than EU membership, if there is a concern that this membership will be a threat to its territorial integrity, Turkey will immediately turn away from this target. Such a reversal in policy will not benefit Turkish citizens, whatever their ethnic origin, nor will it benefit the EU. Therefore, that is why the map published by ‘Aftonbladet’ showing Turkey as divided is wrong. I hope such maps will not be published in the future.’ Let’s underline this sentence by the ambassador: ‘Territorial integrity is more important for the Turkish nation than EU membership’.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION