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Turkish Kurds largely poverty-stricken

Turkey`s largely Kurdish southeast is a region that lags behind the rest of Turkey in virtually every economic indicator. Turkey`s unemployment rate is about 10 percent, but in the southeast the figure is closer to 60. And while some cities in western Turkey, where much of the country`s industry is located, have per capita incomes that rival parts of Europe, many cities in the southeast have per capita incomes more in line with parts of India.

Some economists attribute this gap to decades of official neglect and the effects of the 15-year war fought between the Turkish military and the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the 1980s and 1990s. A recent increase in PKK activity after a lull of six years - some 120 Turkish security personnel have been killed in the past year - is causing concern that the southeast will again be torn by violence, further damaging its fragile economy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Diyarbakir earlier this month. He declared that the Kurdish problem would be solved through greater democratization. But business leaders and officials here insist that any effort aimed at settling the Kurdish issue must go beyond political and cultural rights to include economic development. The government, with help from the European Union (EU) and the UN Development Program, has set up several offices throughout the southeast to assist local businesses. Many hope that Erdogan`s recent visit to Diyarbakir is an indication that his government will start paying more attention to the southeast`s economic woes.