Turkey condemns EU Parliament show on Kurdish fighters

Ankara / AFP

Turkey has condemned as unacceptable an exhibition at the European Parliament on a Kurdish militia force in northern Syria, accusing the EU body of showing propaganda for a “terrorist” group.
The exhibition in Brussels contains images from Syria of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a group the West sees as allies in the fight against IS extremists in Syria.
“It is unacceptable for the European Parliament to engage in propaganda for a terrorist organisation that targets Turkish citizens on a daily basis,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in comments published by the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Ankara accuses the YPG of carrying out attacks inside Turkey and of being the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is fighting a three-decade-old insurgency against the Turkish state.
“We find it difficult to understand what the European Parliament is trying to accomplish by advertising the organic extension of PKK, which the EU itself considers a terrorist organisation,” Kalin said.
The PKK is designated as a terror group by Turkey, the EU and the United States. However the EU and US do not classify the YPG and its political arm the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as terror groups.
The exhibition, which opened on Monday and runs until July 15, comprises 30 images from the Kurdish-populated region of northern Syria.