Turkey fails with its PKK policy

Five people have died in a bomb attack on a military bus in Istanbul. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons organisation, which has close ties with the PKK, assumed responsibility for the deed. Although Turkey relaxed its policy towards Kurds a year ago this is not enough to meet the standards of a European democracy, the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "Last October is regarded as a turning point in the democratic initiative [the plan for improving the situation of the Kurdish minority]. That was when 34 Turkish Kurds - eight former PKK members plus 26 residents of a refugee camp including four children - returned from Iraq to Turkey. … After a brief interrogation they were set free as promised. ... The triumphal return of the homecoming Kurds was regarded by opposition politicians as proof of the failure of the democratic initiative. ... Of those who returned all are now imprisoned, apart from the children. There will be no more returns for the time being. Turkey is still far from being a country to which Kurds can return freely and without fear."

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