A Czech member of the European Parliament (EP), Tomas Zdechovsky, has said the propaganda of PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU should be banned from the EP.
“29 dead in Istanbul. No more tolerance for terrorists stop #PKK #isis and ban them from the EP,” Zdechovsky said in his Twitter account.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Zdechovsky said, in regards to his tweet welcomed by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Turkish social media users, that he was very angry when he saw the terrorist attack in Istanbul and felt the need to make such a statement.
Zdechovsky emphasised, “there is no difference between Istanbul and Paris, Brussels attacks targeting civilians.” He added:
Terrorism never succeeds, terrorists never win
Zdechovsky said that the Kurds must seek rights through political means and that they would never reach a solution using weapons against the Turkish government.
Regarding his tweet, Zdechovsky said, “I made the call to ban PKK because PKK is still on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations. Nobody removed it from that list.”
Zdechovsky stated that he is a Catholic Christian and continued: “Those who lost their lives in Istanbul are Muslims, but we are all the same.”
Religion is not important. We will never support terrorism.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hailed Zdechovsky’s tweet.
“Thank you Tomas, this is exactly what we want to see from the EU institutions and its member states,” Cavusoglu said in his Twitter account.
In contrast with Zdechovsky’s statement, the president of the European Parliament posted a comment on social media without using the word “terror”.
“My thoughts & solidarity with Turkish citizens, with families of victims of Istanbul attacks. I wish speedy and full recovery to the injured,” Martin Schulz said.
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Kati Piri, the rapporteur for Turkey at the European Parliament, made no official statement. Instead, she wrote a message on her Twitter account.
“Terrible news from #Istanbul – my thoughts are with the Turkish people on this awful night.”
At around 10.30 p.m. (1930GMT) on Saturday evening, two explosions rocked Istanbul’s European side.
Outside a football stadium in Istanbul’s Besiktas district, a car bomb was detonated two hours after the end of a Turkish football league match between Besiktas and Bursaspor.
Seconds later, a suicide bomb attack occurred in Macka Park in the same neighborhood. The suicide bomber blew himself up after police noticed him, according to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
“A total of 13 suspects have been arrested so far,” he said. “Signs point to the involvement of the PKK terrorist group.”
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus also said Sunday that the PKK terror group was “most likely” to have been involved in Saturday’s deadly terror attack.
The Turkish Prime Ministry said in a statement, a day of national mourning has been declared on Sunday. The national flags will be flown at half-mast across Turkey and at foreign delegations, it added.