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In a row of summonings by the Turkish foreign ministry, Italy’s ambassador to Turkey has been the latest European diplomat to be summoned to the ministry because of complaints over the demonstrations and acitivities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who has been waging a struggle for the freedom and rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey since late 1970s.
Ambassador Giorgio Marrapodi was informed by the ministry officials on Monday of the ‘concerns’ caused by a demonstration in the Italian capital where the symbols of the PKK and the pictures of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan were allegedly displayed.
The government media Milliyet also reported that the Turkish officials called upon Italian authorities to impose bans on such demonstrations and activities, which, according to Turkish ministry officials, were carried out ‘under the disguise of NGOs’.
Earlier, Greece’s ambassador to Turkey was summoned on 3 June to the Turkish foreign ministry over concerns about the activities of the PKK in his country.
Turkish officials complained to ambassador Christodoulos Lazaris about the PKK carrying out propaganda, financing and recruitment in Greece.
The German and French ambassadors to Ankara were summoned on 31 May to the Turkish foreign ministry to protest events organised by Kurdish militants in those countries.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that the ambassadors were told of Turkey’s discomfort with the events organised by the PKK.
Turkish foreign ministry’s repeated calls on European countries to ban demonstrations and activities of Kurdish activists coincide with the call by the ‘Defend Kurdistan’ campaign to demonstrate on 11 June against Turkey’s ongoing military campaign and occupation in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and its anticipated campaign against the Kurds in northern Syria.
