Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged yesterday that the Kurdish conflict in Turkey would be resolved with âmore democracyâ despite a marked increase in violence by armed Kurdish rebels whom Ankara considers âterrorists.â âI want you to know that there will be no going back from the point Turkey has come to... We will not allow any regression in the democracy process,â Erdogan said in an emotional speech in this key city of Turkeyâs mainly Kurdish southeast. âWe will resolve all problems with more democracy, more civil rights and more prosperity,â he said, frequently interrupted by applause from a crowd of some 1,000 people.In Arbil, northern Iraq, a senior Turkish Kurd rebel leader welcomed Erdoganâs statement, but said he wanted to see how this translates into action. âWe believe Erdoganâs statements are significant,â but what matters is what concrete actions will be taken on the ground, Zubeyir Aydar, head of KONGRA-GEL, a sub-group of the rebel Kurdistan Workersâ Party (PKK), said in a statement received by AFP. Erdogan was seeking to allay concerns that a recent increase in attacks on military and civilian targets blamed on the PKK might prompt Ankara to introduce measures that would diminish the fragile freedoms the sizeable Kurdish minority has only recently gained. Keen to boost its bid to join the European Union, Ankara has ended 15 years of emergency rule in the southeast and allowed the Kurdish language to be taught at private courses and used in public television and radio broadcasts.