Turkish prime minister said on Friday that the Romani (gypsy) citizens in Turkey could not have benefited from nationality law for decades, and therefore, they deserved an apology.

Speaking at a gathering of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan said that the Romani workshop held last week with the participation of 13,000 Romani citizens was a historic meeting.

Commenting on several columnists' statements comparing Romani citizens with Armenian people illegally residing in Turkey, Erdogan said such a comparison would be disrespectfulness both to Romani and Armenian citizens.

He said being subject to nationality law and illegally residing in a country were two different things.

"Romani people are our citizens. They could not even benefit from the nationality law in this country for decades. We will determine this fact. Romani people are the ones who should be apologized to and I offer my apologies to them on behalf of the state," he said.

Erdogan said neither Romani nor Kurdish people were minorities, but they were basic elements of this country.

"Peaceful nevruz"

Regarding the remarks claiming that the government's democratic move has slowed down recently, Erdogan said those who did not know what the problems were, could not perceive how such issues were solved either.

"Our project is not limited to people of Kurdish descent only. It covers all problematic areas," he said.

Regarding the upcoming Nevruz celebrations, the Turkish prime minister said he expected the events would be held in a peaceful and festive atmosphere.

Erdogan also said that he desired security forces, political parties and NGOs to act calmly, tolerantly and responsibly during the celebrations.

"Let's make it a different Nevruz," he said.


AA