On the 25th of June, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın spoke to a UK based radio station run by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) where he discussed President Erdogan’s re-election and other topical matters. However, subsequent to the interview, Kalın revealed that his remarks on Turkey’s battle against FETO, Daesh and PKK terrorism were censored.
According to Kalın,
“I asked the British host, who was using PKK rhetoric, the question of ‘did you ever go Diyarbakır [southeastern Turkey]”.
The host replied that he had not been to Diyarbakır and appeared ignorant as to the conditions of people living under the constant threat of PKK attacks. This portion of the interview which was not aired has helped to enforce an ignorant attitude in Europe regarding the dangers posed by the PKK and FETO to public safety in Turkey and beyond.
It would appear that the state-owned British broadcaster has joined a worryingly growing pan-European movement to whitewash the crimes of terror groups like the PKK and FETO, in spite of the fact that since its inception, the PKK has slaughtered over 40,000 people including many civilians, while FETO has been responsible for an illegal coup in the summer of 2016, the murder of a Russian pilot in 2015 and the assassination of a Russian ambassador in the winter of 2016. But the PKK’s violence in particular is no longer limited to Turkey and neighbouring states including Iran, Iraq and Syria. Now the PKK’s trail of blood flows into the heart of Europe. Likewise, FETO has set up bases in southern Europe, including and especially on the soil of NATO member Albania.
Since the beginning of March of 2018, over 42 PKK inspired attacks against Turks have taken place on German soil while the German government continues to feed domestic violence through a foreign policy of overt Turkophobia. This year, mosques frequented not just by Turks but other Muslims have been firebombed in Germany while Turkish owned shops have been attacked throughout the central European nation.
The silence of German officials on the recent wave of violent attacks by PKK cells in Germany has been complemented by a grossly offensive statement from Germany’s Interior Minister who recently stated “Islam doesn’t belong in Germany”. The clear implication is that the PKK does belong in Germany while practitioners of one of the world’s great religions are not welcome. This is an affront both to those who value the freedom to worship and the freedom to do so without the threat of terrorist violence.
The anti-Turkish sentiments of major European leaders are already widely known. This became especially apparent when Turkey’s President Erdogan was disallowed from speaking to the Turkish communities in Germany and the Netherlands last year. By contrast, Barack Obama peacefully addressed a large crowd in Berlin prior to his election without incident, while in 2017, a newly elected US President Trump addressed a mass gathering in Poland.
The anti-Turkish sentiments that Angela Merkel’s government has fostered have spiralled into a direct threat to the peace and security of Germany’s three million strong Turkish community. Radical Kurdish social media mouthpieces that vocally support the PKK have called to reduce Europe into “rubble and ash”. Thus, while Turks and Muslims are the first and most apparent targets of PKK terrorism, all Europeans are explicitly threatened by recent statements from pro-terrorist social media.
The PKK has a record of targeting both state and civilian targets, including resorts where the terrorist group has in the past killed European nationals. In its decades long campaign against the Republic of Turkey, the PKK have killed more people than the entire body count of Americans killed by terrorism in the history of the United States, including those killed on 9/11.
The German government’s condemnation of Turkey’s anti PKK/YPG Operation Olive Branch in Syria has now met with an equal willingness to look the other way against PKK acts of terror on its own soil. This irresponsible attitude puts the lives of all German residents at risk. The irrational strategy of Berlin’s elite appears to be aimed at attaining support of Germany’s Kurdish population, as well as an attempt to pander to the growing anti-Islamic far-right in the country. Oddly, they don’t seem to care about further alienating the large Turkish population who now live under constant threats of violence on formerly peaceful European streets.
This is the complete opposite of a sensible approach. All German and European political leaders must condemn all acts of terrorism and move against PKK cells based on their open threats that are being made on social media. The failure of Germany and its EU colleagues to condemn PKK terrorism, take radical police action to stop it and monitor pro-PKK social media, means that the wider international community must speak out and act out.
It is high time for the United Nations Security Council to condemn German leaders for their dangerous stance on the PKK. Germany’s refusal to use its own police resources against the threat of PKK terrorism, let alone its refusal to cooperate with Turkey to neutralise a common threat ( a height of negligence that is on par with any other state which harbours violent terrorist groups), means that the world’s highest international peace keeping body must take decisive action. Germany has become a giant safe haven for PKK terrorists and their fellow travellers and the sooner this is reversed, the sooner the streets of both Europe and Turkey can be places of peace.
Just because Germany is the largest European economy does not mean it is above the law, nor does it mean Germany’s clearly anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish leaders can somehow get away with putting all German residents at risk because of their offensive prejudices. The UN Security Council must condemn Germany and put forward a resolution which would force its government to work with Turkey and the wider international community in order to fight this very real and very dangerous problem. This is the only peaceful, proper and secure way forward.
Germany is now guilty of more than just negligence when it comes to fostering an attitude of racism against Turks. Germany is now overtly taking the side of PKK terrorists while Turks living and working in Germany are becoming victims of an increased number of attacks whether by PKK supporters or police who exert undue and unjustified brutality against Turks standing peacefully against a terrorist cult.
In spite of Germany and Britain having a number of disagreements in their own relations, it seems that the official UK broadcaster is now joining in with the German leadership in attempts to hide the truth about terrorist threats which effect multiple nations.
