Kongra-Gel on the list of terrorist organisations

22.4.2004

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1351/04
by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE)
to the Council

On 3 April 2004, the EU placed the Kurdistan People’s Congress, Kongra‑Gel, on the list of terrorist organisations. Kongra‑Gel was founded in November 2003 with a view to providing a more effective platform for the campaign for Kurdish rights in the Middle East. Kongra‑Gel does not correspond to the definition used to describe terrorist organisations. Kongra‑Gel adheres strictly to the principle of non‑violent struggle aimed at gaining greater recognition for the Kurdish people through democratic means.

 

The Kurdish people have been singled out and insulted by this unjust decision. Furthermore, the decision ignores the reality that the Turkish authorities also refuse to recognise: thousands of Kurdish villages razed to the ground and thousands of people fleeing war, thousands of unsolved murders and a tragedy that millions of Kurds must live through every day.

 

Has not the EU altered its position under outside pressure? Under what pressure did this take place? By acting in this way, is not the EU complicit in the detention of Leyla Zana, who was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 1995 and who is still imprisoned in Turkey? Leyla Zana has defended Kongra‑Gel from prison. Does not the Council consider it a equate Kongra‑Gel with a terrorist organisation?