Turkey and the Kurds. Peace be unto you

The Turkish prime minister paves the way for a deal with the Kurds

WHEN Turkey's prime minister came to power some 30 months ago, few expected his mildly Islamic government to resolve the country's knotty Kurdish question. But last week, in a landmark speech in Diyarbakir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turkish leader ever to admit that Turkey had mishandled its rebellious Kurds. Like all great nations, declared Mr Erdogan, Turkey needed to face up to its past. He added that more democracy, not more repression, was the answer to the Kurds' long-running grievances.

Mr Erdogan's visit to the largest city in the mostly Kurdish south-east followed ground-breaking talks with a group of Turkish intellectuals, seen by some as mouthpieces for rebels of the outlawed PKK terrorist group. In these talks, Mr Erdogan pledged that, despite a renewed spasm of rebel violence, there would be no going back on his reforms. The Kurdish problem, he said, could not be solved through purely military means.

The opposition is crying treason. "This will inevitably lead to bargaining with the PKK," fumed Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican People's Party. Nationalists within Mr Erdogan's own Justice and Development party have also made angry noises. The army has so far kept silent, even though some retired generals have called for the reintroduction of emergency rule in the Kurdish provinces.

The Kurds have been only a little less provocative. Embarrassingly few showed up at Mr Erdogan's rally. Diyarbakir's mayor, Osman Baydemir, later boasted that "we could have bused in a million people had we wanted." Orhan Dogan, another Kurdish leader, stoked nationalist fury when he told a newspaper that Turkey would have to negotiate with the PKK and that the group's imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, would walk free one day. Some Kurds saluted Mr Erdogan for his courage, but even they insisted that he must match his words with deeds.

There are encouraging signs that he will. Within hours of returning from Diyarbakir, Mr Erdogan urged media supervisors to allow regional radio and television stations to broadcast in Kurdish. But more needs to be done if Turkey's Kurds are not to be infected by calls for independence by Iraq's powerful Kurds next door. Measures to stimulate the economy of the impoverished Kurdish provinces must be a priority, as Mr Erdogan has acknowledged. That will necessitate also the return of hundreds of thousands of Kurds expelled from their villages by the army during its scorched-earth campaign against the PKK.

Mr Erdogan's call to put right past mistakes will ring hollow unless the state compensates the Kurds for their losses. The interior ministry revealed this week that only 5,239 of a total 104,734 victims who had applied under a new law for such compensation had been considered, and only 1,190 were to be paid anything. With the deadline for applications past, the programme "is a complete fiasco", declared Mesut Deger, an opposition Kurdish deputy, who is pressing for an extension.

Lastly, Mr Erdogan must find a way of giving an amnesty to 5,000 rebels, entrenched in the mountains of south-east Turkey and northern Iraq, that is acceptable to Turks and Kurds alike. The PKK was expected this week to announce a suspension of hostilities, to allow such a deal to be done. Should Mr Erdogan come up with a workable pardon, vowed Naci Aslan, another opposition Kurdish deputy, "I will erect his statue, kiss his feet."

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, paves the way for a deal with the Kurds - but there are many challenges ahead.