B3-1023, 1026, 1061 and 1081/93

Resolution on the PKK terrorist campaign

The European Parliament,

A.aware of the thousands of deaths and the misery caused in Turkey by terrorist violence and its repression and the threat to democracy in Turkey which these events pose,

B.recalling its support for the human rights of all peoples living in Turkey, and especially the right of the Kurdish minority to use their own language, and its condemnation of political murders, particularly of journalists, and of the use of torture by the police,

C.noting that killings, kidnappings and other forms of brutality have continued since the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire by the PKK in March,

D.deploring the declaration, made in Syrian-controlled Lebanon on 8 June 1993 by Mr Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the PKK, of renewed violence against Turks, in which, in his words, 'thousands, tens of thousands will suffer. The campaign will be the most ferocious of all our campaigns',

E.gravely concerned at the terrorist violence that is mainly concentrated in the South-East of Turkey, but is now spreading to other areas,

F.shocked by the attacks on Turkish offices in Berne - where a demonstrator was killed - Copenhagen, Marseilles, Munich, Stockholm and Zurich and by the explosion in Antalya on 28 June 1993, which injured German and Swedish tourists,

G.stressing that it is not in the interests of the Turkish Government to drive the Kurdish minority into the arms of the PKK,

H.deploring the inability of the leaders of democratic states such as Turkey to resolve their internal conflicts by dialogue, understanding and non-violent means, a weakness which is exploited by terrorist organizations to the detriment of the cause they claim to defend,

1.Condemns the PKK terrorist campaign and recognizes the duty of the Turkish authorities to oppose it, but stresses that indiscriminate and massive repression will only strengthen support for the PKK in Turkey and elsewhere;

2.Reiterates its conviction that terrorism cannot be combated by measures which strike blindly at the innocent as well as the guilty, and consequently condemns all measures of large-scale repression;

3.Calls on the Turkish Government to insist that the army and police respect the human rights of all citizens;

4.Insists that no solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey can be achieved by military means and therefore calls on the Turkish Government to accede to the reasonable demands of Kurdish democrats;

5.Calls on the democratic government of Turkey to continue its efforts to achieve a dialogue with the other party to the conflict, namely the elected representatives of the Kurdish people, and to do everything in its power to speed up the necessary review of its constitution, particularly as regards the recognition of the existence of a Kurdish minority;

6.Calls, in particular, on the Turkish Government to recognize the right of the Kurdish minority to autonomy and to use their own language;

7.Welcomes the courageous refusal of many Kurds, and in particular of the democratically elected leaders of the Iraqi Kurds, to support the PKK;

8.Stresses the duty of the competent authorities in the Member States to protect Turks and Turkish property in their countries against terrorist attack;

9.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, EPC, the Government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the National Assembly of Kurdistan (in Iraq).