Turkish MP slams PYD/PKK terror 'provocation' in Berlin

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Supporters of the PYD/PKK terrorist organization storming a government press conference in Berlin on Monday constituted "an organized provocation," said a senior lawmaker from Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Tuesday, Yeneroglu slammed the attitude of German government spokesman Steffen Seibert during the incident.

"It was an organized provocation. Because it is impossible, under normal conditions, to enter the federal press house without a press card," said Yeneroglu, condemning the action of the terrorist supporters.

Yeneroglu also criticized Seibert "for remaining insensitive and not paying attention to the storming of PYD/PKK supporters".

"This situation confirms the German government's policy on the PKK terrorist organization," he said.

Five demonstrators carrying banners of the terrorist group entered the conference hall of a Berlin media center on Monday after Seibert arrived for a regular briefing.

The protesters shouted slogans against Turkey’s ongoing military operation against PYD/PKK targets in northwestern Syria and called on Berlin to stop arms sales to NATO partner Turkey.

The PYD/PKK sympathizers left the conference hall after a security guard came and asked them to leave.

Yeneroglu said a German intelligence report recognized the PYD as a terrorist organization. "However, the PYD has an office in Berlin and conducts its activities as an official association."

Yeneroglu called on Germany to act with Turkey against the PYD/PKK as NATO allies.

"The PYD is a terrorist group which threatens Turkey with terrorist and suicide attacks. We expect Germany to take a position on the PYD in line with being a NATO partner."

The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993, but it remains active, with nearly 14,000 followers among the country's Kurdish immigrant population.

Turkey has long criticized NATO partner Germany for not taking serious measures against the PKK, which uses the country as a platform for their fund-raising, recruitment and propaganda activities.

Germany has a 3 million-strong Turkish community, many of whom are second- and third-generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent whose grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.