Turkiye announced a $14 billion regional development plan on Sunday that aims to reduce the economic gap between its mainly Kurdish south-east region and the rest of the country, Reuters has reported. The announcement comes amid increased hopes for an end to a decades-long insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in south-east Turkiye as well as the advent of a new leadership in neighbouring Syria with cordial ties to Ankara.
The eastern and south-eastern provinces of Turkiye have long lagged behind other regions of the country in most economic indicators, including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, partly as a result of the insurgency.
Turkish Industry Minister Fatih Kacir told reporters in the south-eastern city of Sanliurfa that the government would spend a total 496.2bn lira ($14.15bn) on 198 projects across the region in the period to 2028. “With the implementation of the projects, we anticipate an additional 49,000 lira ($1,400) increase in annual income per capita in the region,” he added.
According to 2023 data, the per capita income of Sanliurfa stood at $4,971, well below the national average of $13,243.
Regarding the prospects for peace in south-east Turkiye, two Turkish lawmakers met the PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan on Saturday, the first such visit in a nearly a decade. They quoted him as indicating that he might be ready to call on the group’s militants to lay down their weapons.
The visit followed a close ally of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calling on Ocalan to end the PKK’s 40-year insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. The conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, now centred on northern Iraq, was mainly focused in south-east Turkiye in the past.
“Terrorism has caused great harm to eastern and south-eastern regions of the country… A terror-free Turkiye will create great benefit to the region,” Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said at the event in Sanliurfa on Sunday.
Turkiye and Western countries classify the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
Yilmaz also referred to recent developments in Syria, where opposition groups backed by Turkiye took power this month after the ouster of President Bashar Al-Assad and his flight to Russia.
“The opportunities that will come with the new era in Syria will increase the welfare of our entire country,” explained Yilmaz. “Our south-eastern region will benefit more from these developments.”
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