Bağış urges EU to work with Turkey against PKK

Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış has implored European countries to cooperate with Turkey to eliminate the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which reportedly controls Europe’s largest human- and drug-trafficking network.

“European countries should now be aware of their own interests and cooperate with Turkey to destroy the PKK,” Bağış said, adding that he would discuss the support given to the PKK by foreign countries during his meetings with EU officials in Brussels.

“We have some hearsay that PKK sympathizers are collecting tributes by threats and blackmail,” Bağış said. “The intelligence agencies of European countries should work to end this because these tributes eventually strengthen the drug network of that country. It is poisoning and killing the youth.”

Speaking to private NTV television channel yesterday, Bağış said he would make a series of contacts in Brussels and would convene with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle to discuss the “positive agenda” between Turkey and the European Union. Füle said there was a “positive agenda” between Turkey and the EU after the 2011 Progress Report for Turkey was announced.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said Turkey would not allow the establishment of a parallel state such as the one allegedly planned by the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), and Bağış echoed his words.

“Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state. In a rule of law there is no such thing as a ‘parallel state.’ It is not acceptable for someone to say, ‘We are going to have a separate state structure.’ This would not be accepted by either the United States or EU countries.”

Bağış will give a conference on “Turkey in Europe” in Brussels before proceeding to Latvia and Estonia to hold bilateral talks. In Riga, Bağış will be received by Latvian President Andris Berzins and will meet with Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics to thank him for the Baltic country’s support to Turkey’s EU membership process.

The EU minister is also expected to host a conference at Latvia University on Turkey’s EU membership process.

Bağış will then proceed to Estonia to meet Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to discuss Turkey-EU relations.