Southeastern Bitlis province hosted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday. The president was in the region to attend celebrations of a Seljuk victory which paved the way for Turkish domination in modern-day Türkiye. Before the events that will be held in Bitlis’ Ahlat, where a Seljuk army encamped before the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) in 1071, Erdoğan attended a ceremony inaugurating public and private investments in Bitlis.

The president said they officially launched investments worth TL 12.5 billion ($471 million) on Friday and vowed to take steps for further development of the region, which has been plagued by PKK terrorism. The PKK, active since the 1980s, constantly carried out attacks targeting security forces and civilians in Bitlis and other provinces in the region, terrorizing the population while also drawing recruits.

Among the major investments were new factories and workshops in an industrial zone that will employ some 3,000 people. "We see a growing interest from the private sector. Bitlis is becoming a textile production hub. Today, we opened 12 production facilities," he said. The private sector has long abstained from major investments in the southeast due to insecurity and instability while locals relied on agriculture for a living in the absence of industry.

"We always supported anyone, any company creating jobs without discrimination. As long as you invest, we will never abandon you," Erdoğan told businesspeople attending the event.

"We adhere to our goal of Türkiye’s growth through investment, employment and exports. More factories will be built," Erdoğan said. "All business opportunities, other facilities available in the western cities of the country are now available in the east. In Bitlis alone, we made investments worth about TL 40 billion," Erdoğan said, citing a new university and hospitals, as well as schools and sports facilities. He said more facilities are under construction, while the housing authority built 4,608 residences for locals. "We are also building three Nation’s Gardens (large public parks) in addition to two others we already built," he said. Erdoğan noted that Bitlis only had 19 kilometers (11.81 miles) of modern roads when his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002 and it now stands at 307 kilometers.

"As the region is free from the threat of terrorism, more investments are being made and development plans will be accelerated. We see this change in tourism in particular," he said, referring to the growing number of tourists in the natural settings of the southeast, such as the mountains that PKK terrorists once used as hideouts.

The PKK’s bloody campaign has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people in the country since the 1980s. Kurdish residents in southeastern provinces suffered the brunt of their violence, losing children and loved ones to forced recruitment, their homes to bombing strikes, and regional peace to the PKK’s brutality and harsh state measures to contain it.

Particularly in the latter half of his rule, Erdoğan’s government materialized a series of reforms for the community, including the establishment of the first national Kurdish-language television network, ethnic Kurdish institutes, the introduction of Kurdish lessons in universities and other development projects.