EU must condemn Turkish operation against Kurds (Gabi Zimmer)

A senior official from the European Parliament has called on the EU to condemn an ongoing Turkish military operation against, as she put it, the Kurdish people in Turkey's Southeast.

Gabi Zimmer, chair of European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament, slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the fatal results of the ongoing military offensive taking place across the Southeast.

"In the wake of the dirty deals agreed with the Turkish government on refugee policy, the European Union (EU) and its member states have passively accepted Erdoğan's war against the Kurdish people. They have deliberately turned a blind eye to the ruthless violations of basic human rights. Kurdish men, women and children are paying for Erdoğan's tyrannical self-interest with their lives on a daily basis," she said.

Zimmer stated that Erdoğan has been trying to use all available means to delegitimize policies in favor of the Kurds since the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) passed the 10 percent election threshold needed to enter Parliament in June of last year.

"The allegation that the demand by the Kurds for self-determination is a betrayal is absurd, and the investigation into the co-chairman of the HDP, Demirtaş, and his colleagues must be stopped immediately," she said in a statement. "Their rights as elected representatives must be respected."

She called on the EU and its member states to condemn what she says is Erdoğan's brutal assault on the Kurdish population.

Turkish government forces have launched a massive operation to dislodge elements of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which established checkpoints and no-go areas in urban areas by digging trenches full of explosives, from cities across the Southeast.

The military says hundreds of PKK militants have been killed in operations. Civilians have also been killed in clashes between the PKK and security forces.

The government has periodically imposed curfews in Diyarbakır's Sur district, Şırnak's Cizre district and many other places. The fierce fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, and disrupted the lives of locals, who are trapped in neighborhoods where urban warfare, severely damaged infrastructure and power cuts have become the order of daily life.

Turkey and its allies, including the US and the EU, consider the PKK a terrorist organization. Fighting re-ignited in mid-July after a two-and-a-half-year cease-fire came to an end.
 todayszaman.com
4/1/16
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