Scottish magazine: Scottish politicians and writers call PKK be delisted from terror list

A group of writers, parliamentarians and politicians in the world called for removal of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from "terror lists", and recognized the effective role of the party in fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

22 December, 2021 09:41

NEWS DESK

According to the Scottish magazine bellacaledonia, on Tuesday, "last week witnessed, launching an international petition to remove PKK from the "terror list". The petition includes more than 1,000 signatures around 100 parliamentarians and thirty lawyers, as well as councilors, academics, doctors, trade unionists, journalists and writers".

Scottish names feature strongly on this list, and MPs Chris Stevens, Tommy Shepherd, Bill Kidd, Ross Greer and Maggie Chapman, award-winning writers James Kellman and Paul Lafferty, and unionists Mike Arnott and Stephen Smiley have joined in signatures from around the world. , including Greek economist and politician Yiannis Varoufakis, French parliamentarian and presidential candidate for the Popular Union Jean-Luc Melenchon, Austrian playwright and Nobel Prize winner for literature Elfriede Jelinek, British director and two-time Palme d'Or winner Ken Loach, and Slovenian philosopher Slavojižek. While the petition is addressed to the European Union, the same arguments can be made to the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States as well.

The magazine says that Turkey has always refused to recognize the rights of nationalities or allow these nationalities to freely express their cultures. Turkey wants the Kurds to consider themselves as Turks, and those who refuse to do so will be punished, all other avenues closed in front of kurds, so the Kurdish freedom movement turned to armed struggle, first for national independence and then for autonomy and minority rights within Turkey.

After collapse of the old empires after World War II, international law recognized legitimacy of the struggle for freedom and independence, which was recently relied on by Belgium's highest court, which said that criminalizing the PKK is illegal.

The peaceful coexistence must come through political negotiations involving the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has long indicated its willingness to negotiate, the political solution is vital for the Kurds to live in peace and dignity within Turkey. It is also vital to restoring Turkish democracy.

Removing PKK from black list would also acknowledge the role PKK in the fight against ISIS. While ISIS was receiving support from Turkey, PKK was helping to liberate large parts of Syria and Iraq from ISIS control. Countries should acknowledge PKK's role has in supporting women's rights and freedoms. Turkey is using the "terrorist" designation to delegitimize and suppress all persons and organizations that fight for Kurdish rights or oppose government policy.

The EU list helps support and whitewash an increasingly authoritarian regime that has imprisoned thousands of Kurds and opposition activists, including former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Vejn Yuksekdag, other HDP elected representatives, mayors, local representatives, and numerous journalists.

A.K

ANHA