Brussels, 15/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The leaders of the EPP Group - Manfred Weber, S&D Group - Gianni Pittella, ALDE Group - Guy Verhofstadt, GUE - Gabriele Zimmer, and the Greens-EFA Group - Rebecca Harms and Philippe Lamberts, have called on the Turkish government and PKK to stop the violence and resume the negotiations for peace.
“The peace process must be resumed immediately”, they said in a joint call made at the initiative of the Greens-EFA Group. The group leaders “strongly” condemned the violence against civilians, police and soldiers, and called on the parties permanently to renounce the use of weapons. “This conflict can only be solved politically through reconciliation. The Turkish government needs to seize the initiative to this end”, the group leaders added, saying they believed the conflict was a threat to the whole region.
“We call upon EU leaders to act immediately with all possible means to achieve an end to the violence and to get the parties in the conflict back to the negotiation table”, the group leaders stated. In their view, ending the violence is “vital for a constructive continuation of the EU accession process” for Turkey. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)