Turkish MP tells Germany to take action against PYD/PKK

BERLIN (AA) - A senior lawmaker from Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has called on German authorities to take action against supporters of PYD/PKK terrorist group.

“It is the duty of the federal government to ensure the security of Germany’s Muslim-Turkish community and their institutions,” Mustafa Yeneroglu said in a written statement on Friday.

Supporters of the PYD/PKK attacked five mosques run by Turkish-Muslim associations since last Friday when Turkey began a military operation in northwestern Syria's Afrin.

The assailants attacked mosques by stones and bottles filled with paint; they vandalized the buildings, wrote pro-PKK slogans and threatened to carry out further violence.

Yeneroglu sharply criticized the German government and politicians over their weak response to recent violence by the PYD/PKK sympathizers.

“One should know that this silence would further encourage the perpetrators and motivate them for new violent attacks,” he said.

On Monday, sympathizers of PYD/PKK terror group punched several Turkish citizens at Hannover Airport.

The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993, but it is still 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.