Kati Piri, the European Parliament's former Turkey rapporteur, worked very hard to spoil Turkey-EU relations during her tenure. Even after the end of her duties, she continued to systematically produce fake news about Turkey. I wrote about this issue in one of my previous op-eds in Daily Sabah. I must admit that I expected, or at least anticipated, that Piri would respond to my claims. Sometimes people want to be proven wrong, and I was exactly at that point. Frankly speaking, I expected her to say the following:
“Whatever is necessary must be done to rescue the children who have been kidnapped by the PKK terrorist organization ... I stand with the brokenhearted mothers whose children have been kidnapped and taken to the mountains ... I worked very hard to establish a strong dialogue between Turkey and the European Parliament and I want Turkey to join the European Union more than anyone else ... Although it is an official political party, the activities of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is often associated with the PKK, should be scrutinized. If they really have anything to do with kidnapping children and taking them to the mountains, they should be seriously investigated.”
As an educator and a socialist politician, she could have said, “as the EU, we must prevent all kinds of terrorist activities and act against everyone and every organization that supports terrorism. We must destroy all the logistics of terrorism, block its channels and sever its illegal money ties.” Or, “the Kurdish mothers that have waited for years to be reunited with their children are not alone; as the EU, we stand with them.”
Instead, she made me an open target for terrorist organizations. As you may have guessed, my well-intentioned expectations above remained unfulfilled and my dreams fizzled out. She did not only deny my allegations but even went a step further. In order to alleviate her own guilt, she posted an impertinent tweet about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish lira. She tried to make me a target of the terrorist organization she loves so much. Some foreign websites that function as extensions of the PKK shared Piri's tweet about me. While I was optimistically expecting a positive response from her, there has not been the slightest change in Piri's stance. The PKK sympathizer Piri has not abandoned her efforts to create the perception that there is a Kurdish problem in Turkey and that its solution partner is the PKK. She insisted upon not understanding. Or, perhaps, it was not in her interest to understand that there is no Kurdish problem in Turkey. The only problem is the PKK terrorist organization and its political extension, the HDP.
Those who want to get to the bottom of the matter, rather than listening to members of the blood-stained organization, should listen to the Diyarbakır mothers who stand guard day and night in front of the HDP's Diyarbakır headquarter in the hope of getting back their children kidnapped by the PKK. That is how they will learn firsthand in all its reality what the PKK terrorist organization has inflicted on the Kurdish people.
Let's return to the actual subject at hand, Piri. As everyone who follows foreign politics knows, during her duty as Turkey rapporteur, Piri always engaged in anti-Turkey activities, appeared to be a supporter of the PKK and acted the same way for the entirety of her tenure. She turned a deaf ear to those who were really suffering and oppressed and regarded the enemies of Turkey as her friends. To sum it up, she was quite the objective Turkey rapporteur. When her term in office ended, she did not deviate from her controversial political stance. She continues to support terrorist organizations' propaganda and engage with them regarding Turkey via her social media accounts, and does not refrain from spreading fake news.
I still want to believe in good faith that the European Parliament will one day see the truth. Of course, I am fairly cognizant of the abilities of people like Piri when it comes to creating perceptions and spreading fake news. However, this I know very well: The truth has a tendency of coming out sooner or later.
