Brussels, 04/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 2 April, the European Union spoke out against a fresh bomb attack in Turkey, this time targeting Diyarbakir, the main Kurdish-majority city in the south-east of the country, and it called for the Kurdish peace process to be resumed.
Seven police officers were killed and around 20 people were wounded in the car bomb attack, which has been claimed by the military wing of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The EU reiterated its “continuing solidarity to Turkey, its government and its people”, confirming its “full support in fighting terrorism and violence”, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated in a press release. The spokesperson said that Mogherini had personally extended her condolences to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Mogherini's spokesperson stated that the Turkish authorities were faced with difficult challenges, due also to the violent acts by the PKK (which is on the EU list of terrorist organisations).
According to Mogherini's spokesperson, a genuine political dialogue in the framework of the Kurdish settlement process is the only way to achieve a peaceful and sustainable solution. “Turkey should re-engage in the Kurdish peace process which brought so many positive and promising results in the recent past”, the spokesperson said, stating that the EU was ready to support this process. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)