The European Parliament called for reinforced political dialogue for the peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey, but restrained from taking an active role in the establishment of peace.
The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Brussels approved a resolution on the 2011 Progress Report on Turkey, which includes several points on the relations between Turkey and the Kurds.

MEPs said that Turkey should assure the political, cultural and socioeconomic inclusion of its Kurdish citizens and to guarantee their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The European Parliament stressed the importance of constitutional reform for including and applying the necessary changes.

It was underlined that in drafting the constitution, Turkey should provide full recognition of all its ethnic and religious communities, acknowledge the inclusive nature of modern citizenship, which is of a non-ethnic nature, and promote the constitutional protection of mother-tongue language rights.

There have been different reactions to the resolution from Ankara, MEPs and Kurdish political parties and organizations.

In a press release AKnews received, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted positively to the report, stating that Ankara will examine it carefully and will continue the reform process with determination.

The coordinator of the Kurdish Friendship Group in the European Parliament, Jurgen Klute, from Germany, pointed out the positive messages in the resolution, but also some weaknesses:

“In many areas the resolution gives encouraging signals to Turkey to follow the reform process.

"The EU has big expectations regarding the new constitution, which could be an opportunity for the solution of many of the problems the country has faced for many decades.

"We also wish that our voice will be heard, and constructive critics will help with future EU-Turkey relations.”

However, the majority of MEPs did not venture any further in playing an active role in the peaceful solution of the Kurdish question.

Several proposals made by the political Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and the Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left to end the violence and establish high-level international dialogue (known as Oslo-Talks) to resolve the Kurdish issue, were rejected by the majority of MEPs.

Many either excused themselves from voting or justified their negative vote by saying the EU should not become involved in internal Turkish ethnic or religious conflicts that began in 1923 with the birth of the Turkish Republic, and must be left to Turks and Kurds to solve.

But at the same time, the majority in the European Parliament supported reinforced cooperation between Ankara and EU countries and the exchange of information on extradition requests by Turkey.

The latter of which, according the Kurdish organizations, could concern many tens of thousands of Kurdish political activists living in Europe.

The decision provoked negative reactions from the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Turkey and Kurdish organizations in Europe.
Nazmi Gur, BDP's Vice-President, who is responsible for foreign affairs and a member of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, told AKnews in a press conference after the vote:

“We are supporting Turkey’s accession to the EU. At the same time it is very difficult to understand why the EU is not helping to find a peaceful solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, but takes the side of Ankara in this conflict!

"Instead of helping Turkey to change in-line with the European values, Europe will be changed according the Turkish strategy against Kurds and it will bring the Turkish-Kurdish war to Europe.

"For Turkey, every Kurd who demands his fundamental right is an activist. There are already more than 7,000 Kurdish politicians, including mayors and parliamentarians, who are in prison without any proves.”

Ismet Kem, Chairman of KON-KURD, the Confederation of 140 Kurdish associations in Europe, said: “This proposal is not only injustice, but it’s also comic, referring to the 1.5 million Kurds living in Europe.

"We are not talking about a small group of politicians or activists, but about more than a 100,000 Kurdish activists in Europe.

"This is a contradiction with the European values of peace and democracy”.




AKnews