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Turkey Accuses EU Countries of Harboring Terrorists |
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Written by Journal of Turkish Weekly
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Saturday, 27 October 2007 14:32 |
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Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at European Union countries for not arresting the PKK terrorists and extraditing them to Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a nationally televised speech Saturday that no EU country had extradited members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), despite labeling the PKK as a terrorist group. Similarly head of the Turkish Army Yasar Buyukanit blamed the EU and NATO members of ignoring the PKK terrorism.
PM Erdogan did not name a specific country. Turkey says the rebels take refuge and raise money in Europe. The PKK has many offices under different names in France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark and some other EU countries. The terror organisation also has a satellite broadcasting company based in Denmark, Roj TV. Greek Cyprus provided fake passport to the head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan. Similarly Italy did not arrest Mr. Ocalan altough he was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. Greece helped Abdullah Ocalan when he escaped from Europe to Africa. Ocalan was captured by the Turkish security agents in front of the Greek Embassy in Kenya. Some of the Greek opposition groups accused the Greek Government of not supporting enough the PKK against Turkey.
Turkey's military presence remained heavy in the Iraqi border area today, a day after diplomatic talks in Ankara aimed at defusing tensions there failed to produce any breakthroughs. On Friday, Turkish warplanes pounded suspected PKK terrorists positions in northern Iraq.
Also Friday, Turkey's top military official said the country may wait until Prime Minister Erdogan meets with U.S. President George Bush on November 5 in Washington before deciding on any major cross-border offensive.
Meanwhile Saturday, more than one-thousand people took to the streets of the mainly Kurdish city of Sirnak in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border to protest the recent surge in PKK violence in the region. |