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Some 50 MEPs have called on Ursula Von Der Leyen and Josep Borrell to take diplomatic action against attacks on Kurdish people by Iran and Turkey, urging an immediate stop to any cross-border operations into Syrian or Iraqi territory, in an open letter addressed to the European Commission president and high representative.
The European Union should ensure Turkey “behaves consistently with its international commitments and in accordance with International Law”, the MEPs said.
MEPs also condemned Turkey’s “politically motivated attempts” to ban the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which is facing accusations of having ties to terrorism, with its co-chairs, MPs and hundreds of other top officials on trial. Turkey should be urged to fulfil its international legal obligations and implement the decisions of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which has ruled on several cases that arrests of Kurdish politicians were politically-motivated.
EU and its member states should call for a United Nations investigation into allegations that Turkey has used chemical weapons against Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, the MEPs said.
Turkey has carried out regular airstrikes in northern Iraq since April, and launched an aerial campaign against north and east Syria on 19 November, following a deadly explosion in Istanbul a week prior.
While Ankara blames the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), both have denounced the attack and denied any involvement.
“In particular, the YPG/YPJ have never acted on Turkish soil nor used terrorist tactics,” the MEPs said, referring to the People’s Defence Forces (YPG), a majority-Kurdish armed force under the SDF who have been the main boots on the ground in the international campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been trying to “instrumentalise yet another tragic event”, they said, and pointed out that the Turkish drone strikes against Syrian Kurds had been destroying civilian infrastructure, including grain silos, a power station, and a hospital. 11 civilians, two guards and one SDF fighter have lost their lives since the Syria airstrikes began, they said.
“This is indeed not the first campaign of aggression against the Kurdish people and it is unlikely to be the last if we do not take action,” they said.
Iran and Turkey have been holding talks, and the 17 November meeting between Iranian and Turkish interior ministers could have been centred around “a joint invasion on the eastern and northern fronts of Iraqi Kurdistan”, they said.
Whether this is the case or not, the possibility alone “should work as a wakeup call”, the MEPs added.
The MEPs also believe Turkey has been committing “war crimes and inhumane crimes” against the Kurdish people, and said the international community had not been doing enough to defend them after their fight against ISIS.
In Syria and Iraq’s Kurdish-majority regions, known as Rojava and Bashur respectively, “Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and Armenians, have created in a period of wartime a democratic alternative that led to peace”, the MEPs said. “It is of utmost importance to defend their achievements, also because with tens of thousands of jihadists detained in north-eastern Syria, the end of this experience could pave the way for a new attempt at a caliphate like Isis, leading back to the situation of 2014.”
Signatories are as follows:
Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Eva KAILI, Vice-President of the European Parliament (S&D)
Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS, Vice-President of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Tiziana BEGHIN, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Emmanouil FRAGKOS, Member of the European Parliament (ECR)
Andreas SCHIEDER, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Carles PUIGDEMONT, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Clara PONSATÍ, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Antoni COMÍN, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Ignazio CORRAO, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Member of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Marisa MATIAS, Member of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Nicola PEDICINI, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Mario FURORE, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Chris MACMANUS, Member of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Salima YENBOU, Member of the European Parliament (RENEW Europe)
Martin BUSCHMANN, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Evin INCIR, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Martin SONNEBORN, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Costas MAVRIDES, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
José GUSMÃO, Member of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Joachim KUHS, Member of the European Parliament (ID)
Theresa MUIGG, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Anne-Sophie PELLETIER, Member of the European Parliament (The Left / GUE)
Massimiliano SMERIGLIO, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Anna-Misel ASIMAKOPOULOU, Member of the European Parliament (EPP)
François ALFONSI, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Benoît BITEAU, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Damien CARÊME, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
David CORMAND, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Karima DELLI, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Claude GRUFFAT, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Yannick JADOT, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Michèle RIVASI, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Dino GIARRUSSO, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Sabrina PIGNEDOLI, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Caroline ROOSE , Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Mounir SATOURI, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Marie TOUSSAINT, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Jordi SOLÉ, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Maria Angela DANZÌ, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Alviina ALAMETSÄ, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Diana RIBA I GINER, Member of the European Parliament (GREENS/EFA)
Matjaz NEMEC, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Brando BENIFEI, Member of the European Parliament (S&D)
Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA, Member of the European Parliament (RENEW Europe)
Laura FERRARA, Member of the European Parliament (N.I.)
Ivan DAVID, Member of the European Parliament (ID)
Javier NART, Member of the European Parliament (RENEW Europe)
