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Turkey's pro-Kurdish BDP leader called on
EU to remove PKK from the list of terrorist
organisations
14.11.2013 |
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Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas
has held a press conference at the European
Parliament Thursday November 14, 2013. Photo:
AA •
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November 14, 2013
BRUSSELS,— Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas
has held a press conference at the European
Parliament Thursday after participating a conference
discussing the Kurdish question in the French
Parliament on Wednesday, Firat News Agency reported.
Demirtaş who was invited to the EP by MEP Jürgen
Klute, member of the German Die Linke party, said
the meeting at the EP handled the ongoing democratic
resolution process in Turkey.
Referring to the ongoing talks between Kurdish
people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and the Turkish
state, Demirtaş said they believed the government
must take more courageous steps in order for the
achievement of democratisation and its permanency in
Turkey.
BDP co-chair said it is important that the ceasefire
is still in effect and should remain so, and
stressed that the EU and the EP should also take
more courageous steps and produce more courageous
policies regarding the recognition of Kurdish rights
in Turkey. Demirtaş criticized the EP and the EU for
failing to encourage the Turkish government to take
steps on the issue.
Demirtaş stressed that the EU in particular
should put forward encouraging proposals and party
to the process for the initiation of negotiations
that shall open the way for lasting peace.
"Any step serving the solution of the Kurdish issue
will also strengthen Turkey's EU accession period,
which is why the EU, the EP and their institutions
should see that Turkey's EU accession period cannot
be managed independently of the Kurdish issue, and
they should provide further contribution", Demirtaş
said.
BDP co-chair called on the EU to remove the PKK
(Kurdistan Workers Party) from the list of terrorist
organisations, and underlined that; "The EU should
definitively review its list of 'terrorist
organisations' because of the fact that it provides
no contribution but constitutes an obstacle to the
peace process in Turkey to keep an armed
organization which guarantees disarmament in the
list of terrorist organisations”.
Referring to another "vital point for the
advancement of the resolution process", Demirtaş
said the isolation on Kurdish leader Öcalan must be
removed and he must be enabled to establish contact
with the outside world.
Answering reporters questions after the press
conference, Demirtaş said the followings concerning
the possibility of a third party's participation in
the peace process; "We are of the opinion that a
third state could well monitor this process but this
doesn't seem much likely in the current state of
affairs. It is however important that a third party,
of intellectuals, also take part in the process as a
witness and a monitoring mechanism which should yet
not be shaped by the government but be accepted and
supported by all circles".
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country. By
2013 more than 45,000 people have since been killed.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds, who make
up around
22.5 million
of the country's 75-million population, its goal
to political autonomy. A large Turkey's Kurdish
community openly sympathise with PKK rebels.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the
Kurds, regional self-governance and Kurdish-language
education in schools.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in
Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey,
reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action
against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara and U.S. The PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned
a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and
its political wing on the European Union's terror
list.
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