ATAA Commends Ambassador John R. Bass
for His Recent Statement on PKK
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) commends the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John R. Bass for his recent statement calling on
the Marxist-Leninist Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), closely linked with the YPG in Syria, to lay down its arms, and to end terrorist attacks and violence in Turkey.
Ambassador Bass said: "The U.S. strongly supports the government's right to protect its population against terrorist threats and violence that are perpetrated against its citizens while stressing that they see the efforts to address the PKK violence is very much in that line."
According to the laws of the United States, the PKK is a terrorist organization. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court held in the Humanitarian Law Project case that providing material support to the PKK's and Hamas' "nonviolent" activities constitutes support for terrorism and violates U.S. law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held in the Parlak case that the PKK was a racist organization that persecutes people who are not Kurdish as well as Kurds who do not support the PKK's Marxist-Leninist political ideology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held in the Ozdemir case that Turkey's military and police actions against the PKK do not target perpetrators by ethnicity, but that they constitute legitimate anti-terror operations against anyone who may be engaging in terrorist activity.
Since 1984, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) has caused the deaths of over 40,000 people. The PKK has caused billions of dollars of property damage in Turkey and other countries. The PKK claims to represent Kurds, but includes a sliver of roughly 5000 radicals and militants who are based out of Iraq, supported for decades by Syria, and obtain revenue by narcotics and cigarette smuggling in the EU. PKK terrorist attacks continue to date.
ATAA believes strongly that there is no place for terrorism in a world so abundant in alternative and peaceful ways of addressing issues. And, there is no place for the PKK, which utilizes Kurdish nationalism as a cover for its crime syndicate, including cigarette smuggling, narcotics trafficking, immigrant trafficking, and prostitution/slavery.
PKK must lay down its arms and surrender to Turkish authorities. The U.S. needs to use its influence over Iraq authorities to hand over PKK terrorists to Turkey. Furthermore, the U.S. needs to stop engaging with YPG which cooperates with the PKK in carrying out terror attacks against the people of Turkey.
ATAA remembers all Turkish military and law enforcement personnel who have given their lives to fight PKK terror, and convey our deepest sympathies and respects to their families.
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