Turkey summons German ambassador over pro-PKK event in Cologne

Turkish foreign ministry summoned Germany's ambassador to Ankara and “expressed a strong reaction” on Saturday after a pro-PKK event was organised earlier this month in Cologne.

Martin Erdmann was called over Saturday’s event during which about 3,000 pro-PKK demonstrators gathered at Deutzer Werft Square as part of a so-called international Kurdish festival, said a statement from the ministry.

“We condemn that PKK terror organisation’s extensions in Germany are allowed to hold an event ... in Cologne ….,” said the statement.

“Our reaction has been strongly expressed to the Germany’s Ambassador,” read the statement.

The statement also criticised the German authorities’ inaction about the messages that were read out during the demonstration, which praised the organisation and its leaders.

"Double standards"

Even though Germany’s interior ministry updated its list of prohibited PKK symbols in March, the demonstrators carried banned posters of jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the symbols of the organisation.

“This double-standard attitude by Germany in the fight against terrorism is worrying in the name of global struggle with terrorism,” said the statement.

The ministry urged Germany to adopt a “principled stand against all kinds of terrorism.”

PKK is active in the country, and carries out significant propaganda, recruitment, and fund-raising activities.

The group has nearly 14,000 followers among Germany’s Kurdish immigrant population, according to the German domestic intelligence agency BfV.

The PKK - listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, the EU and Ankara - resumed its decades-old armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.