The chairman of Germany's Alliance for Innovation and Justice, a party established in 2010 by mostly Turkish Germans, has called on Kurds in Germany to voice their concerns over the recent increase of violence on the Turkish community by sympathizers of the PKK terrorist group.
In an interview with the Anadolu Agency published yesterday, Chairman Haluk Yıldız said that his party is working toward establishing a joint platform to increase cooperation between the Kurdish and Turkish community.
"Our Kurdish brothers/sisters choose remain silent due to PKK violence. However, the problem does not get solved by remaining silent. We are trying to establish a joint Turkish-Kurdish platform here. We will remain against the PKK's violence in Europe," the party chairman said.
PKK sympathizers have enjoyed the freedom of holding mass rallies and demonstrations across European countries. This is particularly so in Germany, where thousands of PKK followers have enjoyed freedom to organize, despite the terrorist group being listed as a terror organization by the EU, the U.S. and Turkey.
There has been a sharp increase in violent attacks by PKK followers on establishments of the Turkish community, including mosques. Attacks have especially ramped up since Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Syria's northwestern Afrin province against the PKK's Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG).
Yıldız added that there has also been a rise in misinformation against Turkey being shared through social media as well.
"Right now extremist groups are sharing photos from other conflicts and brainwashing the Kurdish youth. They are attempting to change people's perception to think that Turkey is committing a massacre in Afrin – killing children. As such, while they are misinforming the German public, they are also poisoning our Kurdish youth as well," he said.
The chairman also underlined that a majority of Kurds in Germany do not support the terrorist group. PKK events have largely been ignored by the European authorities, despite the group's ban. However, in recent days German security forces have been intervening in their events.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also commented on the indifferent stance by Turkey's Western allies, saying that ignoring terrorism will eventually turn into a problem for them.
"The world, which went through the test of fascism and communist ideologies, is now going through test of terrorism. The world is not going through this test successfully. If the members of an outlawed group can commit violence against innocent people in a country, then that's where words fail," Erdoğan said during his party's weekly meeting in Parliament.
"This is what the sympathizers of the separatist group are doing in many European cities," the president said. "Don't embrace terrorism today, so tomorrow you won't have to look for a place to hide in a state of fear."
