24/11/2011 11:16
Mr. Erdogan makes an unexpected apology
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has apologised for the killing of more than 13,000 Kurds by the Turkish military in the late 1930s, the BBC reports.
He is the first Turkish leader to make the apology.
The killings occurred when the army crushed a Kurdish rebellion in Dersim, using aerial bombings and poison gas.
The apology comes at a time of tension between Turkey and its minority Kurdish population.
Mr. Erdogan made the unexpected apology during a meeting of party officials in the Turkish capital Ankara.
"If there is need for an apology on behalf of the state, if there is such a practice in the books, I would apologise and I am apologising," Mr Erdogan said in remarks which were televised.