EU calls on Turkey, PKK to restart negotiations

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) - Spokesperson of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey Hansjörg Haber urged the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to call for an "immediate ceasefire and to return urgently to the Peace Process."

In a statement released Wednesday on the delegation's website Avrupa Info, Hansjörg Haber stated that an important progress was made over the past two years during a largely observed ceasefire and this progress “should not be lost," said Haber.

The head of the EU delegation said the peace process remains "the only way to solve a conflict that continues to claim far too many lives."

Fortnight-long curfews and ensuing clashes between the Turkish military and the PKK-affiliated fighters in numerous Kurdish towns and districts have, since June, claimed hundreds lives, including that of civilians.

"The EU is ready, as it has always been, to support all efforts to reach a positive outcome," the statement added.The EU delegation demanded restraint from Turkey and the PKK, amid the rising violence that has affected urban and rural areas in southeast Turkey. "We expect all parties to act proportionately," the statement read.

Haber said that the Turkish authorities were faced with "difficult challenges, due to the threat posed by the PKK and by other terrorist groups at its borders." But it was crucial to keep the response "contained and avoid effects on local population," he emphasized.

The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, called last month for a revitalisation of negotiations between the Turkish government and the PKK and said in November that the EU was ready to give all the support Turkey needed to restart peace talks with the Kurds.