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Erdogan Slams Jailed Kurdish Leader, Fueling Skepticism about Reform Pledge

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP)
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Erdogan Slams Jailed Kurdish Leader, Fueling Skepticism about Reform Pledge

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday a jailed Kurdish leader has "blood on his hands", scotching some hopes that a reform plan could lead to wider liberties for the opposition and dissidents.

Erdogan promised a slate of judicial and economic reforms two weeks ago, leading to expectations of the possible release of politicians, including Kurdish ones, and human rights advocates from jail.

Former deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc, a founder of Erdogan's AK Party in 2001, added to that speculation with a call for the release of Selahattin Demirtas, former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Erdogan slammed those comments on Wednesday saying: "It offended me that he suggested everyone read the book written by a terrorist," referring to Arinc urging people to read a book by Demirtas to understand Turkey's Kurdish issue.

"There is no Kurdish issue in this country," Erdogan said. Demirtas, he said, defends "terrorism" and has the "blood of thousands of Kurds on his hands".

Arinc resigned on Tuesday from the presidential advisory board.

Demirtas has been in prison for more than four years on charges related to protests against the Turkish army's inaction during a militant attack on the Syrian Kurdish town Kobani.

Erdogan said the AKP would carry out the reforms together with its Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) coalition partner - staunch opponents of the Kurdish political movement. The details of the plans to make judicial processes easier and quicker have yet to be made public.

HDP lawmaker Meral Danis Bestas, a senior figure in the party, dismissed the reform pledges as politicking.

"This reform narrative is not sincere. This is a party which has been in power for 18 years and which has until now totally trampled on the law," she told Reuters.

"It has one aim: to win back the support which has been lost," she said. The next election is not due for three years, but the parties have been dipping in the polls.

The HDP, chaired by Demirtas between 2014 and 2018, has had thousands of its officials and members arrested in recent years. It has generally been accused of links to Kurdish fighters combating an insurgency in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.

Erdogan on Wednesday defended the removal of elected HDP mayors from posts in the southeast. The state has appointed caretaker mayors to 59 out of a total of 65 municipalities that the HDP won in local elections in March 2019.

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Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday that Moscow is open for talks with President-elect Donald Trump and praised him for pointing to NATO's plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.

Any prospective peace talks should involve broader arrangements for security in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual news conference, while adding that Moscow is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv.

Lavrov specifically praised Trump's comments earlier this month in which he said that NATO’s plans to open its doors to Ukraine had led to the hostilities.

Trump said Russia had it "written in stone" that Ukraine's membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russia's doorstep. Trump added that, "I could understand their feelings about that."

Trump's comments echoed Moscow’s rhetoric which has described its "special military operation" in Ukraine launched in February 2022 as a response to planned NATO membership for Kyiv and an effort to protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies have denounced Russia's action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

"NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that," Lavrov said. "It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a US but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements."

The West has dismissed that assessment. Before the conflict, Russia had demanded a legal guarantee that Ukraine be denied NATO entry, knowing the alliance has never excluded potential membership for any European country but had no immediate plan to start Ukraine down that road. Russia said NATO expansion would undermine its security, but Washington and its allies argued the alliance didn’t threaten Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his Western allies to invite Kyiv to join NATO, or, at the very least, offer comprehensive security guarantees that would prevent any future Russian attacks. The alliance’s 32 member countries say Ukraine will join one day, but not until the fighting ends.

Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that "Putin wants to meet" and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized US military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.

Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared his openness for talks with Trump, adding that Moscow looks forward to hearing Trump’s view on Ukraine after he takes office.

Lavrov also praised comments by Trump's pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who said Sunday it's unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces "from every inch of Ukrainian soil."

"The very fact that people have increasingly started to mention the realities on the ground deserves welcome," Lavrov said during his annual news conference un Moscow.

In its final days, the Biden administration is providing Kyiv with as much military support as it can, aiming to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations. The US also introduced new sanctions on Russia's oil industry.

Lavrov described those efforts as an attempt by the Biden administration to "slam the door" and leave a difficult legacy for Trump. "The Democrats have a way of screwing things up for the incoming administration," he said.

He emphasized that any prospective peace talks must address Russia's security concerns and reflect a broad European security environment.

"Threats on the western flank, on our western borders, must be eliminated as one of the main reasons (of the conflict)," he said. "They can probably be eliminated only in the context of some broader agreements."

He added that Moscow is also open to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv, "for the country, which is now called Ukraine."

Lavrov was asked about Trump's comments in which he wouldn't rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — a part of the United States.

Lavrov emphasized that the people of Greenland must be asked what they want.

"For a start, it's necessary to listen to the Greenlanders," Lavrov said, noting that they have the right for self-determination if they believe that their interests aren't duly represented by Denmark.