John Austin

Labour Party | Erith and Thamesmead

Western European Union: European Security & Defence Assembly Plenary Session

4 December 2007, Paris

Terrorist activities on the Turkey/Iraq border

Mr AUSTIN (United Kingdom) - I hope that no one will read into my comments any words of comfort for the PKK or for those who commit acts of terror. We are right to stand firm against terrorism wherever it is, and it is incumbent on all our governments to work to cut off its fuel supply, in the form of money laundering, trafficking and the supply of arms to terrorist groups, wherever they are.

I also wish to acknowledge the importance of Turkey's membership of NATO, its associate membership of WEU and its aspiration to join the European Union. There are, however, aspects of the report that give me cause for concern. I notice that certain bits have disappeared from the original memorandum. The original article 8 referred to the struggle between the PKK and the Turkish authorities. Although I support the direction in which the Defence Minister - and the former Foreign Minister, Mr Gül, now the President - have gone in bringing Turkey into the European family of nations, we cannot ignore what went on under the government of Tansu Çiller.

The defence minister referred to the depopulation of Kurdish areas. That cannot be laid wholly at the door of the PKK. It was the Çiller government which destroyed more than 700 villages and drove people from their homes under the iniquitous village guard system. The extra-judicial killings, the detention without trial and the disappearances have stopped - we hope - but we cannot deny that they took place under the Turkish government of Mrs Çiller.

The second thing that has disappeared from the report is the reference to Mr Öcalan's call from his prison cell for the PKK to work peacefully. That fell on the deaf ears of the Turkish government and of the PKK, but that was not the first time that Mr Öcalan had made that appeal. Before he was in captivity, he called for a ceasefire from both sides on at least two occasions. He also called for the international community to broker discussions on the aspirations of the Kurdish people within the territory of the Turkish state while recognising its territorial integrity. It is a pity that those talks never took place and that those requests fell on deaf ears.

It is right that Prime Minister Erdogan has called for a diplomatic solution, but such a solution will involve recognising the legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish people. That would isolate the extremists and the terrorists. There is a reference in the report to the DTP. The Kurds are urged to use constitutional and democratic means, but when they form political parties - whether DEP or HADEP - they are closed down by the constitutional court and the democratic process is closed to them. We need to give more support to Turkey for the reforms that are taking place. We need to send a message to Turkey that there will be no artificial barriers to its eventual membership of the EU, provided that it meets the criteria. We must make that message loud and clear. We must also appeal to Turkey to recognise the legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish people, their language and their cultural and political rights.

Please view the debate in full here.