Turkish education minister warns failed peace effort may lose its last chance

Education Minister Yusuf Tekin delivered a stark warning in Batman: if Turkey’s “Terror-Free Turkey” process is sabotaged again, he may no longer see a political will capable of resolving the problem.

Speaking at an AKP district advisory council meeting, Tekin said the process formed one of the main reasons for his visit. He defended the party’s record, saying successive AKP governments had worked step by step since 2002 to address the issue. He said initiatives launched from 2009 onward had drawn criticism, but the party nevertheless began what it called the “Solution Process.”

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If this process is sabotaged once again, I would become very pessimistic about solving the problem. We may never again see a will capable of solving this problem.

Tekin urged supporters not to allow what he called ill-intentioned people and groups pursuing their own interests to derail the current effort. He asked them to pay close attention to every step taken around them, listen carefully to news and analyze everything they see on social media.

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Let us all stand behind this process.

“Let us all stand behind this process,” Tekin said. He called for firm support for the position put forward by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and all politicians supporting the initiative. “With God’s permission, let us solve this problem once and for all.”

Tekin also framed the issue through the region’s history, saying different peoples had lived together there for thousands of years before divisive forces introduced discord. He called on people to remove those seeds of discord and support the process in a way consistent with Muslim and fraternal values.

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With God’s permission, let us solve this problem once and for all.