Ankara makes gesture to Kurds

One day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan visited Paris, where Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated France’s opposition to his country's accession to full membership of the European Union, Ankara has taken a step closer to the EU. "The Turkish Parliament has voted in a modification to the country’s electoral law authorising electoral campaigns in the Kurdish language. This applies to posters, leaflets and speeches", reports Die Presse. Until now, electoral campaigns could only be conducted in the Turkish language, even in regions with a large Kurdish minority. "This reform is part of the effort being made by the Turkish government to resolve the Kurdish conflict", explains the Austrian daily, adding that a peaceful resolution to this conflict is one of the conditions required if Turkey is to enter the EU at any stage in the future.