Kurdish Friendship Group to be established in European Parliament
The move also follows the recent dismissal of elected HDP mayors in several major Kurdish cities. The group will form part of a debate on the situation in Turkey being held at the European Parliament this week.
In a motion for a resolution on Tuesday, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ERC) called on Turkey to reinstate the removed Kurdish mayors.
The proposal to establish a friendship group was welcomed by European Free Alliance (EFA)MEPs Francois Alfonsi, Diana Riba, and Jill Evans.
HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli also attended the meeting on the creation of the new group.
“We welcome this proposal by MEPs to come together and establish a Friendship Group in support of the Kurdish people, and we are pleased to support this initiative,” Alfonsi said.
“This is a critical time, particularly for Kurdish people in Turkey who are seeing their democratic rights undermined by a government which allows the dismissal of properly elected mayors just because of their political allegiance.”
He added that the Turkish government’s failure to respect the fundamental rights of the Kurdish people falls “far short of the standards required of an EU candidate country.”
The MEP stated that the friendship group would “provide a platform for MEPs to show support for the fundamental rights of the Kurdish people, in Turkey and elsewhere.”
The group is not the only pro-Kurdish one within the European Parliament. In 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Mission to the EU created the European Friends of Kurdistan. The group’s main objective is to increase awareness about Kurdistan in the EU and to enhance KRG-EU relations.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany