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Washington says no change on Kurdish PKK
status
5.4.2008
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April
5, 2008
WASHINGTON, — The United States has stated
that it has no plans to change the status of the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a
"terrorist" group after a top European Union court
ruled that a decision to place the group on the EU's
terror list was illegal.
"I'd refer you to the EU for a response as to why
that decision might have been taken. For the US
part, we consider the PKK a "terrorist" organization
and there are no plans to change its status," US
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told a
daily press briefing on Thursday, according to
transcripts of the briefing published on the State
Department's Web site.
A European Union court on Thursday
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on
the European Union's terror list.
The EU court said the autonomy-seeking PKK, or
Kurdistan Workers Party, and its political wing,
known as KONGRA-GEL, were not in positions "to
understand, clearly and unequivocally, the
reasoning" that led EU governments to add them to
the terror list. |
White House |
The EU, however, quickly made clear that the ruling
did not mean the 27-nation bloc would remove the PKK
or any other groups from the list, sticking to
previously stated reasoning that it had already
implemented "a clearer and more transparent
procedure" by which it adds people or groups to its
blacklist.
In Ankara, the Foreign Ministry also made assurances
that the PKK would not be removed from the EU list.
In a statement released on Thursday evening, the
ministry said the court did not express any opinion
on whether the PKK was a "terrorist" organization.
"An initial examination reveals that the court did
not express an opinion on whether the PKK/KONGRA-GEL
is a terrorist organization, but on whether the
process by which it was included on the EU list of
terrorist organizations was consistent with EU law,"
it said. "The PKK,www.ekurd.net
together with all its
other names (KADEK, KONGRA-GEL etc.), continues to
be on the terrorist organizations list annexed to
the Dec. 20, 2007 decision of the European Council,
which is still valid. In this respect, the claims of
proponents of the terrorist organization that the
PKK/KONGRA-GEL has been taken off the EU terrorist
organizations list do not reflect the truth."
Casey said there were no plans to change a US law on
the basis of which foreign groups are designated as
terrorist. "I think the PKK well deserves its place
on that list and I wouldn't suspect that this
decision would have any impact on the standing of
the PKK in terms of US policy," he said.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish
PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling.
Information for this report was provided by
todayszaman com | AFP | Agencies
** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority
in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big
Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise
with the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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