Kurds threaten Turkish government with civil disobedience

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Source: The Guardian

Turkish Kurds have threatened a campaign of civil disobedience after Sunday's national elections if the new government does not address their demands for more language rights and autonomy.

Altan Tan, a key Kurdish politician, said relations between the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and Turkey's large Kurdish minority were at a nadir. He blames the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for failing to keep a promise to find a political solution to the bloody Kurdish-Turkish conflict during his eight years in office.

"If Erdogan does not design a constitution which recognises our rights, we are going to start a civil disobedience campaign," said Tan, a candidate in the south-eastern Kurdish stronghold of Diyarbakir.

He said the Kurds could bring the country to its knees: "There are 17 or 18 million Kurds in Turkey who are overrepresented in a number of key industries, like construction, tourism and agriculture. We will stop working on the roads and will sit down on them and pray instead."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/09/turkish-kurds-election-civil-disobedience