The fresh "democratization package" announced on Monday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made tremendous impact also on the Arab world and northern Iraq.

Elaborating on the package which attracted the world's attention on Turkish capital of Ankara on the first day of the week, prominent Muslim scholar of Saudi Arabia Suleiman at-Tarifi stated that "Turkey, having a strong democracy, is experiencing a real awakening in all fields thanks to the democratization package."

"With the democratizaiton package, Erdogan has taken a brave initiative just in time when the others in the world are oppressed and accept to live in darkness," he said.

Praising abolishment of the ban on headscarf, which constituted an impediment for women in Turkey for employment,Tarifi noted that it goes "all natural" for women in a Muslim country like Turkey to wear headscarves.

Tarifi stressed that Erdogan's remarks concerning the content of the package were "towards practice, beyond making pledges."

Hundreds of Arab social media users on Twitter highlighted the focus of the democratization package on "democratization," making the package a top trending topic in the widely-used social media platform.

Users agreed that Turkish Premier fascinated all the world by adding Turkey to the democratization process, arguing that the "participatory democracy" Erdogan mentioned was not just a slogan.

A social media user described the democratization package as a "second declaration of independence," identifying Erdogan as the "descendant of Fatih Sultan Mehmet (the Conquerer)."

Kurdish region hopes democratization will help solve Kurdish issue 

Spokesman for the Kurdish regional government in the north of Iraq Safin Dizayi expressed hope on Monday that the Kurdish issue would also be resolved within the framework of dialogue and peace via the democratization package.

Making an assessment of the package, on the official website of the regional government, as a positive development for Turkey and a key step towards democratization, Dizayi said the package would hopefully enable a better compliance with the principles and rules of democracy, allowing for everyone in Turkey to benefit from it.

"Hopefully, it will be great start as a major step worthy of support," he concluded.

Turkey unveils reforms to facilitate Kurdish settlement process

Chinese state news agency Xinhua announced the announcement of the democratization package using the headline "Turkey unveils reforms to facilitate Kurdish settlement process."

Stressing that Erdogan unveiled "a long-anticipated reform package," the news of Xinhua noted that the package was "to facilitate a settlement process aiming to end a three-decade Kurdish insurgency."

"Under the framework of political party amendments, parties will be able to make their election campaigns in languages other than Turkish," said the news quoting Erdogan, "a move that allows Kurdish politicians to hold activities in Kurdish."

Dewelling upon Turkish Premier's remarks on the reform enabling education in private schools in languages other than Turkish, Xinhua also emphasized the Turkish government's plans to lift a ban on wearing headscarf for women in public institutions.

"Having Muslim-majority, Turkey has had tough restrictions on the garb of women working in state offices," commented Xinhua.

AA