To EU Institution: EUTCC statement - September 21, 2011 Time has come for the EU to remove the PKK from the terrorist list and pave the way for political peace talks! One of the long lasting conflicts in the Middle East is the Kurdish question in Turkey which continues to emerge at the core of nearly all unresolved conflicts. The EU and European countries play a crucial role in solving this unresolved problem. A courageous step forward is needed in European politics in this regard. But there is a stumbling stone ahead: The blacklisting of the PKK as a terrorist organisation represents a serious hindrance for a political solution to the Kurdish question. Dropping the terrorism label will help normalise the situation and encourage the democratic voices in Turkey to speak out. Peace will not be achieved by weapon or by accusing Kurds, whether they support the PKK or not. The time has come for EU countries and countries where Kurds reside to enter into a positive dialogue with Kurdish representatives and organisations in their communities,www.ekurd.netand for the EU to take a far more determined stance for a peaceful political solution. We assume that the EU is fully aware that blacklisting the PKK as a terrorist organization will never lead to a political solution or to the democratisation of Turkey. On the contrary, the problems are increasing. One urgent and effective step would therefore be to immediately remove the PKK from the terrorist list and thereby eliminate the arguments that enforce Turkeys negative and destructive politics towards the Kurds. It is an absurdity that the EU keeps up its decision to blacklist an organisation as terrorist that at least in one sense is already engaged in talks with Turkish authorities - an organisation that millions of Kurds are supporting. Blacklisting the PKK as a terrorist organization disregards the distinction between acts of terrorism and acts of resistance against a state that employs terrorist methods. Stigmatising a group as terrorist, as the EU does in this case, is an effective means of excluding the group from the political arena. The EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, Mr. Gilles de Kerchove emphasised to Ararat News (12.9.2011); [...] that there is no terror threat from Kurdish organisations, including PKK, on European soil against EU-member countries. But the many million supported PKK is still in the EU terror list since 2002. Commenting on the MİT-PKK talks tape with the PKK, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said a nonviolent climate was the precondition for this kind of process. Unfortunately the ground for negotiations vanishes when there are terror acts, he said. We only talk to those who want to talk and not those who flex muscles against the state (Hurryiet Daily News 8.9.2011) This statement clearly shows that Turkey is not ready for a political solution. It is a well-known fact that the PKK has created conditions for peace talks several times since the 1990s. It is not the PKK that create terror acts or flex muscles; this is perfectly accomplished by the Turkish state itself like the recent major escalation of the armed conflict initiated by Turkey and Iran aiming at destroying the PKK. As a matter of urgency the EUTCC call on the EU to remove the PKK from the terrorist list. Instead of blacklisting, a constructive first step would to arrange for initial talks with representatives of the PKK. Kariane Westrheim - Michael Gunter - Hans Branscheidt Chair of EUTCC - Secretary General - Board of Directors
PKK can't leave out from the list by going on with this attacks... http://www.todayszaman.com/news-257...udent-in-attacks-on-two-police-academies.html
if turkey gives kurds self-rule and kurds still continue killing turkish soldiers then turks have every right to call PKK terrorists .
they dont attack civilians like turkish planes did in south kurdistan which killed 7 civilians including 5 kids
if they are 40 million without basic rights and even without citizenship like the kurds in Syria , and banned from education in mothers tongue , neglected region without jobs yes they certainly do . there are nations of 500,000 who have a state . read this its quite informative .
40 million stateless kurds , that's the biggest nation in the world without their own state. not to mention we have had genocides done against us .
Examples of atrocities by Turks its simply to many to post them here http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=13491
I don't know about for these 7 civilians, you say they are killed it could be true. However i don't give any possibility that the pilot who sent the bombs there would do it if he knows they were civilians. To kill the civilian from North Iraq never happened the way of Turkey and doesn't bring any profit. Soldiers knows it well. No need to discuss here that PKK is a terorist organisation, PKK could have inside real socialists, real freedom fighters who is far from the terorist organisations, provocations. PKK already become commercial PKK is a company sacrifacing the life of youngs, leading big capital from drug, human trafic. And biggest gun of PKK is poorness and rising racism in Turkey. If in Turkey nationalism is high one of the biggest reason is PKK. You can discuss if Turkey has a terorist army, you can blame Turkey to follow racist politics but you can't argue if PKK is an terorist organisation or not. For free Kurdistan: Yes it is their right but how shia Azerbaycan can't leave the Iran Kurds in Turkey can't be divided too. Reason: mojority of Kurds in Turkey don't want it you accept or not majorty want to go on in more democratic Turkey as Kurdish citizens of Turkey. So you can't hope from Turkey to leave this land to free Kurdistan. Turkey don't do something to block a Kurdistan. Barzani knows very well this and try to built good relationships with Turkey. Another paradox, PKK hopes to take support with its Marksist ideology from Kurds of Turkey whom %95 is islamic - conservative right???
I just read one random sentence from your biased source, then I didn't even bother to read the rest. Turkish constitution says Kurds are terrorists? Heh, okay.
Erdogan urged support for the just struggle of the Palestinians for statehood, no-one seemed to notice the Turkish PM's blatant hypocrisy in continuing the Turkish tradition of denying the existence of the Kurdish people and their rights, or of the ongoing conflict in the Turkish and Iranian parts of Kurdistan. Erdogan and the ruling AKP party are playing a complex game in the region reaching out to the Arabs but at the same time using such a world role as a "smokescreen" to launch fresh offensives against the Kurds. As the 'Arab Spring' receives wide coverage in the world media there is little mention of this dirty war, where the Iranian and Turkish armies have been pounding Kurdish guerrilla bases in S.kurdistan borders in recent months, killing dozens of "Kurdish civilians" in the process. Erdogan is using his leading role in the Arab Spring as a smokescreen to push the cause of Kurdish autonomy back decades.
