Turkish Paper Details Kurdish Plan Points

According to Today's Zaman "The concrete details of the government's new Kurdish initiative are slowly coming to light following Interior Minister Beşir Atalay's talks with representatives of political and civil society organizations"

Concrete suggestions from the Turkish package

* Turkey's unitary government will be protected.

* Political campaigns in Kurdish will be allowed.

* Kurds will learn their native tongue.

* Kurdish to be allowed in prisons.

* Place names will be restored.

* Kurdish institutes will be established.

* Children will not be classified as terrorists.

* Active Repentance Law will be put into effect.

* Hate crimes will be outlawed.

* Kurds will be free to express themselves.

While the plan has many supporters, top military brace is against the changes of the unitary state of Turkey. The same newspaper also writes that the Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ said in a message published on the General Staff Web site congratulating the nation on the occasion of Victory Week that "The Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] will never accept a change to the nation-state or unitary state structure [of Turkey] for any reason."

“The Turkish Armed Forces is respectful of cultural differences. However, it cannot regard it possible for cultural differences to be politicized and become societal political identity elements in the Constitution of the Turkish Republic,” the statement said.