Reaction to EU's PKK Ruling

Just as the Turkish forces have yet again resumed bombing Southern Kurdistan (N. Iraq) to allegedly root out PKK rebel cells, the European Union has annulled its ruling to have PKK on its list of terrorist organizations. According to the BBC, the Court of First Instance (CFI), EU's second-highest court, said that decisions made by EU governments in 2002 and 2004 to blacklist the PKK and freeze its assets was illegal under EU law, ruling that the decision to place the PKK or their aliases on the proscribed E.U. list was "lacking an adequate statement of reason."

The EU court affirmed that the autonomy-seeking PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, and its political wing, known as KONGRA-GEL, were not in positions "to understand, clearly and unequivocally, the reasoning" what led EU governments to add them to the terror list.

The PKK was added to the list in 2002, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Its political wing, KONGRA-GEL, was added in 2004. The United States and Turkey also list the PKK as a terrorist organization. The register was drawn up to respect a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks which demanded that countries crack down on "terror" financing.

But an EU official said a new list of terrorist organizations had been drawn up in December 2007, including the PKK again, which took into account the views of the court in similar cases in the past. The PKK won an appeal last year giving it a right to a hearing and a new case to get it removed from the EU list. According to the Associated Press, Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, has said the EU's anti-terror rules violated democratic principles. EU states decided in April 2007 to inform groups and individuals when they are placed on the EU terror list. Those listed will now be able to ask why they were put on the list and why their assets are frozen. But there are still no procedures for an independent review and for compensation for possible human rights breaches. The Turkish government blames the PKK for allegedly being responsible for 37,000 deaths since the group launched an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in the Kurdish populated southeast Turkey in 1984. However, most would argue that the disparity and repression against Kurds led to the formation of the armed separatist movement in 1984.

Kurds, PKK, and Turkey

The Kurdish issue with respect to Turkey is a very deep and complex matter. While the majority of Turkey's Kurds do not openly support separatism from the Turkish state, many do support the PKK, as the only force fighting for broader Kurdish cultural, economic and political rights. For many years, the Turkish government had denied the existence of a Kurdish identity. For decades, the Kurds have experienced both linguistic and cultural persecution. Due to the large number of Kurds in Turkey, successive governments have viewed the expression of a Kurdish identity as a potential threat to Turkish unity as well as its national security. Turkey operates as a democratic country when one considers its representation process in terms of voting, it does not however share the same moral values as other democracies in the world. It has taken advantage of the U.S. and EU's "war on terror" to severely increase Turkish military activity on the Kurdish people, claiming to be wiping out terrorism.

The European Union defines terrorism as:

"Certain criminal offenses set out in a list comprised largely of serious offenses against persons and property which as given their nature or context, may seriously damage a country or an international organization where committed with the aim of: seriously intimidating a population; or unduly compelling a Government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act; or seriously destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organization."

Although there is no unanimous definition for terrorism, what the EU fails to mention is the fact that it has only applied terrorism to organizations (and not states). If we were to follow the ICC model of universal rights and added rough states to such an equations as well, we would find that Turkey's military activity against the Kurds in Southeast Turkey and Northern Iraq can be viewed as state sponsored terrorism.

Turkey's violation of human rights stem from the its rather archaic political system which believes that democracy could not survive in the face of “ethnic divisions”. The government should be built on the idea that everyone should be treated the same, hence, denying the Kurds minority status or rights in Turkey. The Turkish Constitution bans the formation of political parties on an ethnic basis. Several Kurdish political parties have been shut down by the Turkish Constitutional Court for links to the PKK, and some party members were imprisoned. Despite Turkey’s unwillingness to a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, the PKK has declared a ceasefire for disarmament numerous times and in 2006, the PKK signed the "Geneva Call Deed of Commitment" stating their willingness to commit a total ban on antipersonnel mines. PKK's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the past was on the following basis: the acknowledgment of the Kurdish identity, language, culture, politics organization, freedom of thought and expression, social development, removal of Turkish forces in the Kurdistan region, as well as the gradual disarmament and legal participation into the democratic social life.

Considering PKK demands, one should note that their demands are in line with a rather just resolution of the Kurdish question through democratic means. To note further, most of their demands are in agreement with the requirements of Turkey for EU membership. However, for critics, Turkey's reluctance to consider these demands shows they have much more a desire to continue their conflict with the PKK than to resolve it and achieve peace.

Turkish Reaction

The Turkish officials' reaction to the EU court ruling is not surprising. In Turkey, skepticism and anger are fueling among the Turkish public concerning EU’s stance on the PKK. Turkey claims that the European court undermines anti-terror efforts. Likewise, Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Erdoğan harshly criticized the member states for assuming what he termed a non-principled and insincere approach towards the issue of terrorism, accusing certain EU members of overlooking terrorists' activities in their countries by using the independence of the judiciary as an excuse.Nonetheless, it should be mentioned again that according to EarthTimes.org, the EU Council in Brussels stressed the listing would continue and PKK assets would remain frozen despite the European Court of First Instance ruling in Luxembourg earlier in the day. On the other hand, perhaps EU's ruling will re-examine Turkey's human rights violations and thus put an end to all forms of terrorism and intimidation where the international community can put pressure on Turkey as well as the PKK to rely on diplomacy and dialog vis-a-vis military forces.