EH Bildu Senator Gorka Elejabarrieta Díaz and Carlos Moreno Blanco, Secretary-General for the European Union, asked the Mixed Commission for the European Union to promote, within the framework of the European Union, political and diplomatic initiatives aimed at supporting the progress and consolidation of the peace process in Kurdistan.
Elejabarrieta said: “We are globally in the midst of a systemic transition, a civilizational transition. These kinds of complex global transitions can take place peacefully and democratically — or not! And history, I believe, has shown us far too many examples of the latter. For transitions of this kind to take place democratically and peacefully, there is no doubt that having norms, laws, and an international legal framework, as well as global institutions that enable governance in that regard, would be of great help.
But it is also true — and I think we would all, or almost all, agree — that those institutions that were created mainly after the Second World War (to enable global governance, to allow for the prevention and, if necessary, the resolution of conflicts between states and beyond) are now in deep crisis.”
Elejabarrieta added: “It is because of this, because of all of this, that in a world where bad news follows bad news every day, I have brought what I consider to be — within this desert — a sign of hope, some good news. And that is nothing other than the current moment in the conflict that has pitted the PKK against Turkey for decades — more than four.
We are facing an opportunity for peace, in my opinion, unlike anything we have seen before. And I will try to explain why.
It is known — it is public — that the PKK insurgency began in 1984, and since then more than 40,000 people have died, of all kinds, and thousands and thousands have been displaced. We are talking about a conflict that has been ongoing for more than four decades and that has had terrible consequences.
During these four decades, there have been various attempts to resolve this conflict through dialogue and negotiation. But all these attempts have failed.”
Moreno said: “As other Member States of the European Union did, the European Union itself — through High Representative Kallas — and Spain in February 2025 welcomed the call made by the historic leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, for that organization, as your Lordship has correctly explained, to convene a congress, dissolve itself, and lay down its arms.
We did the same regarding the statement issued in May 2025, in which the PKK announced its dissolution and also announced the facilitation of the subsequent peace process.
Spain has always held a position in favor of peace and of political and diplomatic solutions based on the United Nations Charter and the rest of international law, including — let us not forget — respect for sovereignty and the guarantee of the territorial integrity of states.”
Elejabarrieta continued: “To ask a specific question related to the possibility that the PKK, now that it has dissolved, be removed from the European list of terrorist organizations, just as the European Union did with the FARC in order to support and protect the peace process that took place in Colombia. Would this be an initiative? We believe it could positively help the development of the peace process.”