Pope Francis on Thursday received a suspected member of the PKK terrorist group who is facing charges of “forming and managing an armed terror organization” in Türkiye.
During a visit to the Vatican, Abdullah Demirbaş, the former mayor of the historic Sur district in Türkiye’s southeastern Diyarbakır province from the now-defunct Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), submitted to the Catholic leader a letter of complaints about Türkiye, according to the Turkish newspaper Sabah.
Demirbaş also asked the pope to pray for a peaceful solution to the “Kurdish issue” in Türkiye.
After ceasing operations in 2014, the BDP merged with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a party accused of having close links with the PKK and using taxpayers' money to help fund terrorists that have been leading an armed insurgency against Türkiye for over four decades.
Demirbaş fled to Europe, where he has been sheltered from Turkish prosecution for years. This week’s visit to the Vatican was not his first, according to an interview he gave to news outlet Arti Gercek. He said he has met Pope Francis three times in the past and has been petitioning other leaders in Europe to levy support for the Kurdish issue.
Drawing a parallel between the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and “the pain Kurds are enduring right now,” Demirbaş in his letter claimed, “The Kurdish community lives under the control of four (Türkiye, Iraq, Iran, Syria) countries and has been exposed to various violence and sorrow throughout its history.”
He revealed their meeting was held in a “very positive atmosphere” and that the pope said he would “gladly pray for us.”
The Kurdish issue is a multifaceted issue the PKK has used as a pretext since the 1980s for its bloody attacks and so-called separatist agenda.
The Kurdish community in Türkiye, even those in northern parts of Iraq and Syria, have fallen victim to the PKK’s brutal campaign whereby it has been forcing Kurdish citizens to pay tributes to it, and either killing or brainwashing children to join or assist their terrorist acts.
Despite harsh state measures to contain and eradicate terrorism, which Ankara says is the root of the Kurdish issue, the group finds a political foothold in parties like the BDP and HDP, many of whose mayors like Demirbaş are facing charges of collaborating with PKK terrorists and providing logistical support and equipment.
Past investigations conducted by Türkiye’s Interior Ministry revealed municipalities run by the HDP helped terrorists dig trenches and erect barricades, mainly in Diyarbakır, Şırnak and Mardin provinces, eventually causing the destruction of entire neighborhoods in clashes when the terrorist group adopted an urban warfare strategy in July 2015 and ended a two-year truce.
In the last decade, Türkiye has made significant progress in terms of rights given to Kurds, despite decades of negligence, including the establishment of a Kurdish TV channel, the introduction of Kurdish lessons in universities and other developmental projects.
“There is no such problem in Türkiye. We have already addressed, overcome and ended that issue,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently underscored.
