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By Nevzat Devranoglu
SANLIURFA, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey announced on Sunday a $14 billion regional development plan that aims to reduce the economic gap between its mainly Kurdish southeast region and the rest of the country.
The announcement comes amid increased hopes for an end to a decades-long insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey as well as the advent of a new leadership in neighbouring Syria with cordial ties to Ankara.
The eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey have long lagged behind other regions of the country in most economic indicators including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, partly as a result of the insurgency.
Turkish Industry Minister Fatih Kacir told reporters in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa that the government would spend a total 496.2 billion lira ($14.15 billion) on 198 projects across the region in the period to 2028.
"With the implementation of the projects, we anticipate an additional 49,000 lira ($1,400) increase in annual income per capita in the region," he added.
According to 2023 data, the per capita income of Sanliurfa stood at $4,971, well below the national average of $13,243.
Regarding the prospects for peace in southeast Turkey, two Turkish lawmakers met the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan on Saturday, the first such visit in a nearly a decade, and they quoted him as indicating he might be ready to call on the group's militants to lay down their weapons.
The visit followed a call by a close ally of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Ocalan to end the PKK's 40-year insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
The conflict between the Turkish state and PKK, now centred on northern Iraq, was mainly focused in southeast Turkey in the past.
"Terrorism has caused great harm to eastern and southeastern regions of the country... A terror-free Turkey will create great benefit to the region," Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Sunday at the event in Sanliurfa.
Turkey and Western countries classify the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
Yilmaz also referred to recent developments in Syria, where Islamist rebels backed by Turkey took power this month after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and his flight to Russia.
"The opportunities that will come with the new era in Syria will increase the welfare of our entire country. Our southeastern region will benefit more from these developments," Yilmaz said.
($1 = 35.0702 liras)
(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu, Editing by Huseyin Hayatsever and Gareth Jones)
