LONDON
Supporting the PKK terror organization's rhetoric, European countries and their press turn a blind eye to a group of mothers in southeastern Turkey, who have been staging a sit-in protest against the abduction of their children by the terrorist organization.
Notwithstanding listed as a terrorist organization by the EU, the PKK generally operates freely in Europe.
The terror group’s rhetoric is called "Kurdish view" by German, French, Dutch, and Swedish media.
Victims of the PKK's bloody terror campaign, whose children were abducted by the terrorist organization, are rarely mentioned in the European media.
The EU officials share this tendency of the European press.
In 2016, Johannes Hahn, the EU commissioner for European Neigborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, met with Peoples' Democratic Party’s (HDP) Europe representative Eyup Doru, who is sought with a red notice by Turkey for being involved in terror activities.
The Turkish government accuses HDP of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group.
Furthermore, PKK's so-called representatives in Europe participate in conferences held every year in the European Parliament.
The EU officials in Turkey regularly attend the PKK members' trials in courts, ignoring the mothers in Diyarbakir who have been protesting for 408 days.
The only European diplomat, who visited the protesting mothers, was the British Ambassador to Turkey Dominick John Chilcott.
France's support to YPG/PKK
It is known that France is one of the most pro-YPG/PKK countries in Europe as the terror group has managed to gather support from several French presidents ranging from Francois Mitterand to Emmanuel Macron.
Macron has leveled up his support to the YPG/PKK by inviting the members of SDF, a label used by the group, in 2019.
Following the reception at the Elysee Palace, an official statement announced that Macron assured the group that his “active support will continue.”
French military advisors have also trained YPG/PKK terrorists in the Ain Issa camp in northern Syria. France has also allowed PKK members to hold demonstrations in the country, especially in the capital Paris and in front of the Council of Europe’s building in Strasbourg.
However, French officials do not comment on the ongoing protest in Diyarbakir.
French media's bias
The press in France is no different. Usually portraying YPG/PKK terrorists as heroes, French newspapers have largely been silent on the Diyarbakir protest. The only exception was a piece published by newspaper Liberation on Jan. 6 which included remarks by a protesting mother.
However, the article said that the HDP denies its ties to the PKK and that the mothers’ protest is somehow linked to the “appointment of trustees to HDP municipalities.
German media
Like in France, the German press also voices YPG/PKK’s rhetoric and projects terrorists as “freedom fighters” even though it is officially recognized as a terrorist group in Germany.
Maide T., a resident of Berlin, whose daughter was forcibly recruited by the terror group, has said no concrete steps were taken by German officials, although she has asked for help many times.
She has protested for 11 months in front of the German Chancellery and parliament, but no German media outlet interviewed her.
Maide T. criticized the media and complained that she did not get support from the German press.
"My child was taken by YPG/PKK and not by anyone else. Even if German or European media reject the reality, I will continue my struggle against the terror group."
The German press has also largely ignored the Diyarbakir protest.
In a news story, daily Der Tagesspiegel emphasized that protesting mothers were encouraged by the Turkish state and pointed out that Turkish officials, including interior minister, had paid a visit to the mothers.
The hypocrisy of Europe
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also raised this hypocritical attitude of Europe at a news conference with his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde on Tuesday.
"You are a mother too. I kindly ask you to visit and talk to protesting mothers in Diyarbakir who have been waiting for their children for more than a year. They are Kurdish women as well. Why do you always support the PKK/YPG/ SDF? What sin has other Kurds committed?" Cavusoglu questioned.
The protest began on Sept. 3 last year in Diyarbakir, when Fevziye Cetinkaya, Remziye Akkoyun, and Aysegul Bicer said their children had been forcibly recruited by YPG/PKK terrorists.
The sit-in protest has been growing every day. The grieving families have vowed to continue the protest until every family is reunited with their children.
While 19 families reunited with their children so far, 152 families continue the sit-in protest.
* Written by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara
