Die Linke MP Hunko: Deputies from all parties want PKK ban lifted

2015-02-25 13:55:21

NEWS CENTER (DİHA) - Prior to tomorrow’s debate in the German Federal Parliament on the PKK ban, Die Linke (Left Party) deputy Andrej Hunko said that deputies from all parties wanted the ban to be lifted, but the state security apparatus, or deep state, wanted to maintain it.

The ban on the PKK was introduced by the conservative Helmut Kohl government on 26 November 1993. Now, more than 21 years later, the ban is one of the most discussed issues in Germany at the moment. Due to the effective struggle waged by the PKK guerrillas and YPG/YPJ fighters against ISIS gangs many people in Germany now consider the ban to be meaningless. However, the Merkel-led Christian Democrat-Social Democrat coalition government insist that the ban will be maintained, hence tomorrow’s debate on a Left Party motion. Left Party deputy Andrej Hunko explained the details of the motion to ANF.

‘A motion all parties will support’

Hunko said deputies from all parties would be able to support the motion submitted by the Left Party, adding that they had not got involved in a debate over whether the original ban was justified, instead arguing that in the current circumstances the ban was meaningless. Hunko said the aim was not merely to have the ban lifted in Germany, but at the same time to ensure the PKK was removed from the EU list of ‘terrorist organisations.’ “The EU extends the list of banned organisations every 6 months. We want Germany to say ‘no’ to the PKK remaining on the list at the next meeting,” he added.

‘The security apparatus thinks differently’  

Hunko said members of the coalition parties agreed with them that the ban should be lifted, but that the state security apparatus had not changed their stance on the Kurdish movement. “We can compare the Interior Ministry, the police and intelligence to the deep state structures in Turkey,” he added. Hunko said attitudes to the Kurdish movement had changed in the last two years, with politicians in Europe having a positive attitude to Demirtaş’s candidacy in the Presidential elections. He added that the HDP was now seen as the architect of real democracy and that developments in Sinjar and Kobanê had contributed to this process.

What is in the Left Party’s motion?

The Left Party motion to be debated in the Federal Parliament tomorrow evening stresses that the PKK emerged as the result of the persecution of Kurds in Turkey, that the Kurdish freedom movement is waging a struggle for women’s rights and that the Turkish government is involved in a peace process with the PKK. The motion adds that lifting the ban on the PKK would put pressure on Ankara to implement real reforms that would ensure advances in the process. The Left Party will also ask the Federal Parliament to put pressure on the government to lift the ban and end investigations of alleged PKK members.

Andrej Hunko also a victim of the ban!

Andrej Hunko is one of the 10 deputies who is the subject of an investigation by Berlin prosecutors after holding a PKK flag in the Federal Parliament in November. Andrej Hunko also unfurled a PKK flag on a demonstration in Cologne  in support of colleague Nicole Gohlke, who has had her parliamentary immunity lifted for supporting the YPG and holding a PKK flag. Hunko implicated himself by sharing the photo on social media.

(nt)