Turkey condemns Belgian court ruling on terrorist PKK

By Aylin Dal

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's justice minister on Friday condemned a recent court ruling in Belgium that blocks the prosecution of 36 suspects linked to the YPG/PKK terrorist group in the western European country.

The ruling "contradicts the Belgian legislation as well as the acquis of the European Union which [Belgium] hosts as the founding country and international law, particularly the United Nations Security Council decisions," Abdulhamit Gul wrote in a letter to his Belgian counterpart Koen Geens.

The Turkish minister said that the verdict could be exploited by the terrorist group.

The group ringleaders' attending a recent event at the European Parliament is a testament to the fact that the ruling gave them encouragement, Gul added.

A conference, titled "The European Union, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Kurds," was held in Brussels on Wednesday.

Some leaders of the terror group -- Adem Uzun, Remzi Kartal and Zubeyir Aydar -- who are in the red category of Turkey’s wanted terrorist list -- were in attendance of the conference.

The letter came a week after Turkey's Foreign Ministry had slammed the verdict by the Belgian Supreme Court. The verdict, upholding a 2010 decision not to prosecute YPG/PKK-linked suspects, amounts to an explicit attempt to undermine law, it had said in a statement.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the YPG/PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., as well as the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.