Germany: Ban on PKK to continue despite recent apology

The German government has declared its ban on the PKK will continue despite an apology by the group for violent attacks during the 1990s.

German Ministry of the Interior deputy spokesman Tobias Plate said on Friday that the recent statement by a senior PKK figure renouncing violence and apologizing to the German people was not enough for a new assessment.

"The statement alone provides no reason in the short term to change our assessment, which was relevant so far," Plate said at a press conference in Berlin.

He said the German Ministry of the Interior was having exchanges with all relevant parties on the subject and was also closely following the Turkish government's reconciliation process to end the conflict with the PKK.