The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that a conference on Kurds and Turkey held in the premises of the European Parliament on 8-9 March was an event organised by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We strongly condemn the anti-Türkiye event organised by the ringleaders and supporters of the PKK/PYD/YPG in the premises of the European Parliament,” the ministry said in a statement, referring also to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.
The Turkish government sees Kurdish political parties and armed groups in northern Syria as a national security threat affiliated to the PKK.
“It is unacceptable to allow such an event, which serves as a propaganda tool for an EU-listed terrorist organisation that targets the territorial integrity of our country, to take place,” the ministry said, adding that the event once again demonstrates “the hypocrisy and insincere stance of the European Parliament in the fight against terrorism”.
The 17th International Conference on “The European Union, Turkey, the Middle East and the Kurds” was organised by the EU Turkey Civic Commission with Die Linke (the Left), the Greens – European Free Alliance and the Groups of the Free Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Desmond Tutu and Shirin Ebadi, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger, renowned professor Noam Chomsky, and Sakharov Prize winner Leyla Zana were among the patrons of the conference.
The conference called on its last day for an independent international investigation into allegations of chemical weapons use by Turkey’s armed forces in Kurdish-majority areas of Iraq and Syria.