As of: March 27, 2024, 4:24 p.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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Press
Split
In Belgium, a group of Turkish nationalists apparently wanted to set fire to the house of a Kurdish family.
Is the violence now spilling over into Germany?
Heusden-Zolder – Trouble is brewing again between the Turkish and German governments.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry warned Germany and European countries not to take action against supporters of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
The reason for this is said to be an attack by PKK supporters on the Turkish Consulate General in Hanover.
“After the attack, German officials were contacted and reminded that they are responsible for the security of our citizens and diplomatic missions and that provocations against the Turkish community in Europe should not be tolerated,” it said.
“We expect the affected countries to show no tolerance for the actions of the terrorist organization’s supporters and to bring the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.”
Hanover police confirm attack on Turkish consulate general
The Hanover police have now confirmed that there were attacks on the Turkish Consulate General on Tuesday.
About 20 people continued towards the Turkish Consulate General yesterday after the solidarity protests for the Kurds in Belgium.
“The people threw stones and hit the windows of the consulate with iron bars, damaging them.
When additional police arrived, the perpetrators fled on foot in different directions.
As part of the search, police forces initially arrested two people in the area,” said the Hanover police in a press release.
However, it is currently uncertain whether the perpetrators were former meeting participants.
Kurdish flags and symbols are said to have “provoked”.
The incident in Hanover is apparently just a continuation of the riots in Belgium.
There were clashes between Kurds and Turkish nationalists on the sidelines of the celebrations for the Kurdish New Year “Newroz”.
Around 5,000 Kurds from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany gathered on Sunday for the Kurdish celebration.
“After this event, a small convoy of cars drove to Heusden-Zolder.
With honking horns, Kurdish flags, PKK slogans and pictures, they provoked the local Turkish community on the Koolmijnlaan in Heusden-Zolder,” writes the
Gazet van Antwerpen
.
This is said to have led to an attack on a Turkish man.
“This news spread on social media and within a short time dozens of Turks had gathered.
The incident led to several confrontations that spread across the Houthalen and Heusden-Zolder region,” Mayor Alain Yzermans told the newspaper.
There were riots in Belgium after a lynching attack on a Kurdish family.
© IMAGO/ERIC LALMAND
Statements from the Belgian mayor cause confusion among Kurds
The Belgian politician's statements cause incomprehension for the chairman of the Information Center for Anti-Kurdish Racism, Civan Akbulut.
“It is irritating that the mayor of Houthalen-Helchteren, Alain Yzermans, quickly blamed the victims of this attack, even while Kurdish people were missing.
The material we have seen shows a different situation.
We stand in solidarity with those who experienced extreme violence that day simply because they celebrated Newroz with Kurdish symbols.
Mr. Yzermans is also the mayor of those who are still seriously injured in the hospital as a result of the attacks by Turkish right-wing extremists.
He needs to know that,” says Akbulut in an interview with
fr.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
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But the deputy mayor of Heusden-Zolder, Yasin Gül, also blames the Kurds for the escalation of violence.
“We have been living as Western European Turks for 60 years.
Our community has not experienced anything like this before,” Gül told Turkey’s state-run
Anadolu
news agency .
In a conversation with the TV channel
CNN Türk
, Yasin said that the Kurds had hurt the national and religious feelings of the Turkish people in his city with the flags of the “so-called” Kurdistan and the imprisoned chairman of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan.
Gül himself is said to have connections to Turkish nationalists, as several recordings on X are said to show.
Mob with wolf salute wants to set fire to Kurdish family's house
However, images on social media speak a different language.
There, Turkish nationalists gathered in front of the house of a Kurdish family and tried to set it on fire, said Kurdish journalist Deniz Babir.
The group repeatedly shows the wolf salute, the symbol of the nationalist Gray Wolves.
The residents were returning from Newroz celebrations with several other Kurdish families when they were attacked.
They would have had to barricade themselves in the house with their children.
The mob even tried to set the Kurdish family's house on fire.
However, the intervention of the police was able to prevent this.
Just a few days earlier, the Turkish foreign minister was in Belgium
“Just a few days before the riots, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Belgium.
Fidan also met with community representatives there.
A short time later, the violence on the Belgian streets escalated,” said Kurdish journalist Deniz Babir.
Babir is in contact with the Kurdish family whose house was attacked by the Turkish nationalists.
Fidan was previously head of the Turkish secret service MIT and understands how to silence the opposition.
“The European Union has listed it as a terrorist organization since 2002, and in Germany it has been banned from operating since 1993,” writes the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution about the PKK.
The gray wolves are also in the sights of the German authorities and are monitored by both the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and various state offices for the protection of the Constitution.
Left-wing politicians and several non-governmental organizations have repeatedly called for the PKK ban to be lifted.
So far, this plan has repeatedly failed - apparently out of consideration for NATO partner Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For the same reason, the applications for a ban against the gray wolves may have failed.
(erpe)