Recep Tayyip Erdogan has harshly criticized the European Union for not doing enough to take on the PKK. He had said that the nations under the European Union had not extradited the members of the PKK to Turkey. So far, Turkey has asked the EU numerous times to do more against the PKK such as extradition. The PKK is regarded as a terrorist group by the European Union.
He spoke out after the talks between Turkey and Iraq have made no progress. The Iraqi proposals on stopping the PKK attacks were too long and impractical according to the Turkish government. As a result, all Iraqi proposals against the PKK were rejected by Turkey. So far, it has warned that they will not tolerate anymore raids by the PKK. As a result, Turkey has built up troops on the border.
Erdogan had questioned if the European Union was being sincere on the issue. “No EU country has extradited members of the PKK to Turkey, despite labeling it as a terrorist organization,” stated Erdogan on Turkish TV. No specific country in the EU was mentioned by name.
No further meetings between Iraq and Turkey have been planned as of yet. The Iraqi delegation said that their proposals were good. However, Turkey has stated that all proposals would take too long for them to be effective.
On Saturday, hundreds demonstrated for actions against the PKK. However, many countries are concerned about possible instability in Kurdish-occupied northern Iraq. That part is Iraq is the only stable part at the moment.
About three-thousand PKK rebels are in Iraq. Turkey has already demanded all PKK bases in northern Iraq be closed. It has also demanded the leaders be arrested and extradited to Turkey. Erdogan and United States President George W. Bush will meet on November 5, 2007.