Mr Stefan Füle, EU commissioner for enlargement, has replied to the parliamentary question presented by several EP members concerning the alleged chemical weapon use against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas. In an answer given on behalf of the EU Commission, Füle remarked that the Commission will follow the subject which it brought to the agenda before Turkish authorities.

The parliamentary question presented by European parliamentarians had been signed by Jurgen Klutte, Nikolaos Chountis (GUE/NGL), Cornelis de Jong (GUE/NGL), Cornelia Ernst (GUE/NGL), Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE), Baroness Sarah Ludford (ALDE), Katarína Nevedalová (S&D)and Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL).

In the response letter to the question, Füle says the followings;

“After the subject was brought to the agenda by the Commission, Turkey stated in early December of 2011 that the bodies of mentioned PKK members were being examined by Forensic Medicine Institute within the scope of an investigation into the allegations. The Commission will nevertheless continue to follow the issue with a particular interest.

Within the scope of membership negotiations with Turkey, the Commission will also draw attention to the decisions stated in the final declaration of the European Union in December of 2006 as well as the scope of the negotiation determined by EU member countries in 2005.”

Allegations of chemical weapon use by Turkish army against PKK guerrillas were most recently brought to the agenda following the military operation in Çukurca where 36 guerrillas lost their lives on 22 September 2011. Identities of the unrecognizably burnt bodies of guerrillas couldn’t be determined for many weeks after the clash. Over 470 guerrillas are thought to have been killed with chemical weapons in at least 40 operations between the years of 1994 and 2011.

ANF NEWS AGENCY, 15 March 2012

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