Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke during the “Governor’s Meeting”. Erdogan said that the 72.5 million citizens of Turkey were all first-class citizens. He emphasized that his government would never discriminate against any citizen and they would take care of everyone’s problems whether they were Christian, Jewish or any other minority.
Erdogan said that there was a thin line between security and democracy and it was important to preserve the balance between them. He stated that they would fight terror and any other threats but it was also wrong to cause divisions between the citizens and push them out and create dirty scenarios. He emphasized that an attitude that regarded the citizens as threats was an outdate one and was against democracy. He also said that it was the duty of the security forces to fight terrorism and no one had the right to ask them to lay down their arms.
Erdogan stated that the democratic initiative would gain momentum in 2010 and they would take more concrete steps. He emphasized that the initiative required changes in the Constitution and hopefully a democratic Constitution would soon be formulated.
Source: ntvmsnbc, Milliyet (Turkey), January 27, 2010
