Italian newspaper publishes call for removal of PKK from EU list of terrorist organisations

Important intellectuals from many countries calling for the PKK to be removed from the list of “terrorist organizations” place advertisements in important newspapers along with the text of the call they share. An advertisement was also placed in Il Sole 24 ORE, one of Italy’s most important newspapers.

The International Initiative Campaign: Justice for the Kurds, launched the urgent call for the removal of the PKK from the EU’s list of terrorist organizations.

The call says: “In the interests of peace, democracy, and human rights, we call on the Council of the European Union to remove the PKK from the proscribed list of terrorist organisations.

A peaceful solution to the Kurdish Question is a prerequisite for a healthy democracy and for stability in Turkey and the wider Middle East. Turkey and its large Kurdish community will be able to achieve that peaceful solution only through negotiations. Such negotiations need to involve all parties, including the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The listing of the PKK as a terrorist organisation, however, is a barrier on the path to peace.”

The call adds: “Under the global war on terror, states have used the designation ‘terrorist’ as a political weapon to de-legitimize opposition and repress efforts for human rights and freedom, as the Turkish state has done in the case of the Kurdish people. The listing of the PKK has been used to justify attacks on Kurds everywhere – from discriminatory practices to military confrontations. It has enabled freedom of speech to be curtailed and civil liberties to be removed; it has led to the suppression of opposition political parties, newspapers, TV channels etc. Political leaders, parliamentary representatives, elected mayors, critical journalists have been imprisoned on the pretext of association with terrorism; it has caused endemic inequalities to be overlooked and has prevented social problems from being addressed; and it has been employed as grounds for war. The European Union is thus effectively being used to whitewash attacks by authoritarian regimes.

In the cause of peace, freedom, democracy, stability and human rights, we call for the PKK’s immediate delisting.”

Read the full text of the call here

Sign the petition here