📍#PARIS | Left-wing French MPs call for the removal of the #PKK from the #EU's terrorism list, as they said Friday’s attack against a #Kurdish cultural centre in Paris was a terrorist attack.https://t.co/VsOEByHAlg pic.twitter.com/Wpzgz1T1hb
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) December 29, 2022
MPs from the left-wing La France Insoumise visited the Ahmet Kaya Kurdish Cultural Centre on Tuesday to offer condolences to the community and the families of the three Kurds who lost their lives in Friday’s deadly attack.
MP Eric Coquerel called for the removal of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations, and said the inclusion of the organisation legitimised the targeting of its supporters.
“France must now take a step on this issue. This is something we have been demanding for a long time,” Coquerel said, pointing to the Kurds’ fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
“It is not a coincidence that a Kurdish centre in France was targeted. The judiciary should consider this fact and investigate the political and terror affiliations of this attack. Just like the attack 10 years ago,” said Coquerel, referencing the incident known as the Paris Massacre, where founding PKK member Sakine Cansız and two Kurdish women activists, Leyla Şaylemez and Fidan Doğan, were assassinated in a Kurdish community centre in January 2013.
The 2013 Paris Massacre had been connected to Turkey’s intelligence service MİT, Coquerel said, adding that the current attack should be treated as an act of terrorism.
La France Insoumise chairman Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the attack was a serious political matter to point to internal and external security.
“I presented the demands of our parliamentarians and our action committee on the subject: total lifting of defence confidentiality on the file from 10 years ago, referral to the anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office on the assassinations of 23 December,” Mélenchon said.
La France Insoumise MEPs have moved to delist the PKK at the European Parliament, and Mélenchon said the inclusion of the PKK in the terrorist organisations list was a “scandal” that appeased the wishes of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and NATO, of which Turkey is a member.
