Belgium allows PKK to put tent back up


PKK supporters have once again set up a tent in Brussels, garnering no reaction from officials and causing controversy in Turkey. After the DAESH terrorist attacks in Belgium last week left 40 people dead, questions are being raised as officials in the country give no reaction to the presence of the PKK supporters' tent, despite the organization being listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU.The first tent was set up in front of the European Council building in Brussels during the migration summit between Turkey and the EU after PKK supporters received permission from the Belgian government to keep the tent up until the end of March. Despite pledges to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, this move from the Belgian government raised eyebrows in Turkey, compelling the Foreign Ministry to summon the Belgian ambassador to Ankara on March 20.President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized Belgium's decision to allow PKK supporters to pitch tents in front of the Turkey-EU summit in Brussels. "They just took down [PKK] flags and posters today," Erdoğan said, describing the response from Brussels as indecisive and insincere. He also said that Turkey expects more empathy from European countries and that that he is willing to listen to advice from Brussels' officials and other international institutions as long as it is fair.Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders and notified him that Ankara considers tents erected by supporters of a terror organization in the center of the EU "unacceptable" and asked for their immediate removal.