Turkey wants EU support to combat terrorism

EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır met with European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn at the Turkish Embassy in Vienna on Tuesday as a part of his EU tour to express Ankara's determination in maintaining the reconciliation process and combatting terror. Bozkır said that the discriminatory statements regarding terrorist organizations create a false impression in the EU and Western society.

After the two-hour meeting with Hahn, Bozkır said that Ankara needed its friends on rainy days. Expressing that he believed there were friends of Turkey in the EU, Bozkır said: "We think that most European countries do not discriminate between terror and terrorist organizations. In our view, terror is terror and terrorists are terrorists. Discriminating among terrorist organizations on the basis of whether it will harm oneself or not causes more problems." Bozkır said that Ankara started the reconciliation process to create a Turkey in which no one will be marginalized due to ethnicity, religion or lifestyle. "However, we could not accomplish one of the key issues of reconciliation, which is the disarmament of armed elements. We had to take action against the three terrorist organizations that threaten innocent lives and the security of our country. The three terrorist organizations are the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham [ISIS], the PKK and the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front [DHKP-C]. Despite the fact that there is discrimination among these organizations in the Western world, the DHKP-C attacks the U.S. Consulate General while the PKK assaults and kills our security forces – they all are of the same essence. Therefore, we have thoroughly talked with Commissioner Hahn, expressing that we would like to see the West on our side in combatting terrorism," Bozkır said. Pointing out that the PKK is designated as terrorist organization by the EU, NATO, the U.S. and many other countries throughout the world, Bozkır said that the discrimination of the terrorist organization is unacceptable.

Bozkır also said that the EU should address some crucial questions to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). "Is the PKK a terrorist organization? As the HDP, do you want the PKK to disarm and its militants to leave the country? These are the question that must be asked. As long as you shape your opinion without having any answers to these questions, your actions will cause issues for the Turkish people. Signifying that the EU should clearly convey the message that they do not discriminate between terrorist organization," Bozkır said, adding: "Firstly, this should be asserted with statements. Some discriminatory statements create a false impression of the EU and Western society; it is perceived as if our friends are not by our side on our dark days."