MAINZ, Germany – A key G20 summit in Turkey later this year should be held in an alternative venue because of Ankara’s war against Kurdish rebels, German Green Party leader Cem Ozdemir demanded, warning that Turkey may be sliding into civil war.
“One has to be careful that the situation won’t develop in that direction,” Ozdemir said during a visit to Turkey’s southeastern Kurdish regions, referring to the fear of a civil war.
Ozdemir, who has Circassian roots, suggested that the G20 summit slated for November should not be held in Turkey, where the military on Monday ended a 10-day operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdish district of CIzre, where 22 civilians were reportedly killed.
“I can’t imagine how the G20 summit in November could possibly take place in Antalya, given the images of Cizre. How could you just sit comfortably together under palm trees while the rest of the country is burning?” he asked.
Tensions between Turks and Kurds reached a boiling point after the Turkish government imposed a curfew early this month in the Cizre district of the country’s southeastern Kurdish Sirnak province. According to the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) more than 20 civilians, including children, have been killed by Turkish soldiers. The Turkish interior ministry has said 32 PKK rebels were killed.
“The place for the solution of the Kurdish question is the parliament,” Ozdemir said.
He called on the Turkish government and the PKK for an immediate ceasefire.
“The upcoming feast of sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) would be a good opportunity for de-escalation and an end to the atmosphere of violence.” he added in Mardin, a Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.
Mehmet Tanriverdi, co-head of the Kurdish Community in Germany (KGD), supported the call for a shift in venue for the G20 summit, saying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would use the meeting for propaganda. He said German leader Angela Merkel should stay away if the event goes ahead as planned.
“The Turkish state is leading a war against the Kurdish people and just in the last weeks cities like Silvan, Varto, Silopi or Cizre were at least partly destroyed,” he said.
“In western Turkey Kurds are being lynched. Kurdish shops and offices are burning and Erdogan would use the summit just for his own propaganda. Chancellor Merkel should definitely stay away.”
Germany is usually cautious in its policies toward Turkey and the Kurds, because both communities have large populations of immigrants in Germany.
But on Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Turkey of overreacting in its crackdown on the PKK.
“With all due respect for an adequate response to terrorist attacks, I hope that the government in Ankara endeavors to calm the situation and dispenses with overreactions,” he was quoted as saying.
For weeks now, Turkey has been carrying out near-daily air raids and attacks against the PKK in its own Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the rebels operate some military camps, infuriating Kurds worldwide.
The attacks began after Turkey declared a war on terrorism in July. But instead of directing its fire at the Islamic State group (ISIS) that has been using Turkey as a springboard for jihads in Syria and Iraq, Ankara launched a fierce crackdown on the PKK.
According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, more than 1,000 PKK rebels have been killed in the attacks, which put an end to a two-year ceasefire, and peace negotiations that were meant to end a three-decade conflict in which 30,000 people have been killed.
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