European Parliament is hosting a photo exhibition about northern Syria, which at first instance looks pretty innocent, yet judging some of the photos that on display there seems to be a hidden goal to promote the Kurdish PKK and People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorist groups.
The sponsors of the exhibition claim it is an event organized to display the daily life of the people of Rojava - the Kurdish name for northern Syria - with photos taken between 2013 and 2015.
Yes, many of the photos displayed at the exhibition depict the daily lives of the people in northern Syria. Yet some show PKK militants and one photo shows a rally where photos of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan are displayed.
Öcalan is not an ordinary Kurd. He is the leader of a terrorist gang that has fomented violence in eastern and southeastern Turkey for nearly four decades with the loss of at least 50,000 lives. He is now serving a life sentence in the Turkish prison on İmralı Island after being convicted on charges of treason. When his photos are displayed at a rally it means that rally is organized by the PKK, which is also considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and its member countries. So when such a photo appears in the corridors of European Parliament, which is the legislative wing of the EU, is it not normal for people to ask the motives behind it?
Some people may feel Turks are too touchy and, we are, of course. When the PKK continues to take lives in eastern and southeastern Turkey on a daily basis through its terrorist campaign, how would anyone expect Turks to feel? Would a European not be touchy if someone opened an exhibition in an EU capital where photos of DAESH terrorists were displayed after the attacks in Paris and Brussels in a manner that actually eulogizes them?
This has been done before in Brussels when the PKK opened a tent exhibition just as then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was negotiating the migrant deal with EU leaders at a building just next to the meeting hall. Is this not an insult to Turks and their leaders?
Turks are touchy because northern Syria has been turned into a Kurdish terrorist hotbed with the help of the EU and the United States. Turks are touchy because those trained in northern Syria are then sent into Turkey to launch terrorist attacks and even suicide bombings in Ankara and Istanbul. Can any EU official accept this? If they do, then we can rightfully say they do not mean well.
All this gives the impression that there is a sinister motive behind this exhibition, which seems to be a part of a greater plan. It clearly suggests that European officials are being deceived and used.
Some people are systematically creating the impression that northern Syria belongs to Kurds, that they are a majority in the region and thus deserve a statelet by calling the area Rojava. Well we have news for them. Yes, Kurds are a reality in northern Syria, but they are not the majority. Through the PKK they have imposed their will on the local people, they have driven Turkmens and Kurds out of the region, some of whom have fled to Turkey. This was an act of ethnic cleansing that international human rights groups like Amnesty International documented. Shouldn't the photographer, Thomas Schmidiner, depict these scenes to give a true picture on what is going on in northern Syria?
Besides, why is European Parliament calling the region Rojava instead of northern Syria? Has it and the EU already finished off the republic of Syria and created a Kurdish state? Will they soon start calling southeastern Turkey with some Kurdish names and open similar romantic exhibitions in Brussels? The EU and The Associated Press should not allow themselves to be used like this.
