AKP says EP rapporteur lost 'neutrality' by siding with PKK

Turkey's ruling party has voiced its displeasure with European Parliament Rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri, who they said lost her "neutrality" during a recent visit to southeastern Diyarbak?r, where she allegedly spent time with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by both the EU and the U.S., in addition to Ankara.

Piri is a representative of the European Union, which is an organization founded by states which "slaughtered" each other during World War II with the goal of "excluding terror and violence and throwing away all kinds of violence out of the political field," Ömer Çelik, the spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said on Feb. 25.

"To say the least, [for a rapporteur] representing institutions of a peace project, coming to Turkey and spending time with members of the terror organization [PKK] and charging the state of the Republic of Turkey is a presumption beyond losing her neutrality," Çelik said at a press conference.

Earlier, EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r had echoed Çelik when he blasted Piri for shying away from calling the PKK a "terrorist" organization in a statement she released following her Diyarbak?r visit.

Bozk?r said in a written statement Feb. 22, that Piri had described the Turkish security forces' operations in southeast Turkey as a "civil war," accusing police and military forces of opening fire on civilians, in a text posted on her website following the visit.

"The violence has got to stop, and the dialogue must be resumed. We have to do everything to avoid a bloody civil war in Turkey. After all, many lives have already been ruined by this conflict on both sides," Piri said in her statement.
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