The Italian ambassador in Ankara was summoned on Monday to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over the recent activities of the PKK terrorist group in Italy, diplomatic sources said.
Giorgio Marrapodi was summoned over a PKK demonstration in Rome on Saturday, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The demonstration included symbols of the outlawed terrorist group and photos of its convicted terrorist ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, despite previous protests by the Turkish Embassy in Rome.
Turkey reiterated its dissatisfaction with PKK propaganda spreading into the public sphere, its activities under the guise of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and the 2020 granting of honorary local citizenship to Öcalan by the town of Fossalto in southern Italy.
Turkey also repeated its demand that the Italian government prevent such actions by terrorist groups and its sympathizers and stressed the responsibility of the Italian government.
Despite it being officially banned in the European Union, a number of the bloc’s member states have allowed demonstrations and fundraising campaigns by the PKK, which intensified in recent weeks.
Since its foundation in 1984, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants.
