In a strong show of determination to lose no more time on the settlement of the long-standing Kurdish question, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to hold a meeting today with representatives from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP).

The meeting will be a first, as the prime minister previously declined to meet with DTP officials, pointing to the party's refusal to term the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) a terrorist organization. Observers believe the meeting will accelerate efforts to shape a government plan to solve the decades-old Kurdish problem.Erdoğan will participate in the meeting as the chairman of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but not as the prime minister. Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, the coordinator of the government's Kurdish initiative, will attend the meeting. The DTP will be represented by its chairman Ahmet Türk, co-chairwoman Emine Ayna and parliamentary group chairman Selahattin Demirtaş.Discussing the much-anticipated meeting, Türk said yesterday that his party will convey a message to the prime minister about the sensitivity of the "Kurdish process." The DTP leader will also underline that his party members are fully aware of their responsibilities in the resolution of the question. “We will explain the hopes and wishes of the public and will try to concentrate on what we should be careful about in a search for a peaceful solution,” Türk stressed.Prime Minister Erdoğan is expected to meet with DTP officials today to discuss the government's current effort to settle the decades-old Kurdish question. The meeting could accelerate the push to give a final shape to the Kurdish initiative The government recently began to work on a comprehensive plan to settle the Kurdish issue with the aid of various segments in society, as Atalay explained last week. The plan envisages broader cultural rights for Kurds living in the country.Minister Atalay did not share details of the plan but announced that the government was working on a comprehensive Kurdish policy based on democratization.He had underlined that this model would be unique to the country's own history and conditions. Atalay urged politicians and intellectuals to contribute to these efforts and did not rule out the possibility of meeting with the DTP. Erdoğan informed his deputies at the AK Party parliamentary group meeting on Monday about the government's Kurdish initiative and hinted that he would meet with DTP deputies.“We will meet with all the parties,” Erdoğan told his deputies and recalled that in the past DTP leader Türk had requested an appointment to meet with the prime minister, but prior to the scheduling of the meeting the PKK launched terror attacks, scuttling any meeting plans. Former Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin visited the DTP parliamentary group yesterday to seek support for his candidacy for the post of parliament speaker. He also underlined that they would never meet with the PKK or its leaders.Pundits, on different occasions including the workshop held over the weekend at the Police Academy, strongly emphasized that pro-Kurdish circles' views must be taken into account, even if the solution will not be addressed before them.Erdoğan had refused to meet with DTP deputies ever since they entered Parliament after the general elections on July 22, 2007, due to their refusal to denounce the PKK as a terrorist organization although it has been listed as such by Turkey, the EU and the US.One of the leaders of the PKK, Murat Karayılan, in an interview in May suggested that the PKK or its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan should be considered a party to the solution.Öcalan, who is serving life imprisonment on İmralı Island in the Marmara Sea, is preparing to present his “roadmap” for the solution in mid-August, at the anniversary of the PKK's first terrorist attack in 1984. Karayılan added that if Öcalan would not be taken as a party, then the DTP should, and if not the DTP then a group of “wise men” composed of Kurdish intellectuals.Regarding the meeting with DTP deputies, Erdoğan said that he does not consider the DTP and the PKK the same, since the former is a party in Parliament, but he recalled that when the DTP requested an appointment in the past, attacks were ongoing: “Their request reached us when there were 10 people being martyred each day. I was not able to accept to the appointment request; we are dealing with politics in this country. We have demands, too. The political parties should have a positive approach,” he said.  Hasip Kaplan, a DTP deputy from Şırnak, welcomed Erdoğan's change in attitude and underlined that the process is very sensitive: “It is very important to contribute positively to the process, and in this respect I am sure the meeting of our leaders will be very useful,” he said.He also warned that it will be better to have this meeting soon: “Timing is very sensitive. There are no clashes right now, and to continue progress, we believe that the process should be sped up.”  He added that such a meeting will pave the way for new steps on the way to a comprehensive solution. Another DTP deputy, Sırrı Sakık, underlined that the steps which will be taken from now on are very important. He recalled that in the past there had been multiple opportunities to solve the Kurdish problem but that they were all missed: “Today there is a consensus on peace, there is an initiative for it. Society has to discuss more on the matter. Parliament needs to have a special session, too,” he said. Meanwhile the opposition was critical of the meeting and accused Erdoğan of breaking his promise not to talk to those who do not condemn the PKK. Onur Öymen, the deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), recalled that Erdoğan had refused to meet with the DTP in the past: “As far as we know, the position of the DTP did not change. But it seems that the prime minister's did. He was hoping for help from terror supporters,” he said.Oktay Vural, the parliamentary group chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had a similar stand and claimed that actually the prime minister had wanted to have this meeting for a long time: “If he talks with the terror organization itself, it will not be a surprise,” he said.When Prime Minister Erdoğan was asked about the MHP's reaction to the Kurdish initiative he underlined that the MHP closed its doors to dialogue by calling the initiative treason to the country. “What can you talk about with such an understanding?” Erdoğan questioned.After the statements from the opposition parties, the AK Party headquarters, in a written statement, clarified that the meeting will take place at the room of the AK Party chairman in Parliament.The short statement underlined several times that Erdoğan is participating in the meeting as the chairman of the AK Party. The prime minister title was not referred to in the statement.   05 August 2009, WednesdayAYŞE KARABAT  ANKARA