Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed European countries Saturday for failing to arrest and extradite wanted Kurdish militants to Turkey. The criticism came as Turkey threatens military action against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
Turkey has repeatedly called on European Union countries to act against militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other outlawed Turkish groups. The EU considers the PKK a terrorist organisation. "Unfortunately, no European country has done this so far," Erdogan said in a televised speech at a symposium in Istanbul.
"The fact that there has been no improvement shows clearly how sincere our Western friends are on this issue," Erdogan said.
Without naming any country, Erdogan referred to a recent spat with Austria, which Ankara accuses of failing to arrest a senior PKK member wanted on an Interpol bulletin, allowing him instead to board a plane for northern Iraq. PKK treasurer Riza Altun emerged in Austria in July after fleeing France, where he was indicted in February for terrorist activities and barred from leaving the Paris region.
Turkey is threatening military action in neighbouring northern Iraq to crack down on PKK bases there if Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the rebels.
Turkey has long accused EU countries of tolerating PKK activities and failing to close organisations affiliated to the rebel outfit. It says the PKK obtains much of its money through drug trafficking, people smuggling, extortion and money laundering in Europe, where it has an extensive network of activists.
Many Kurds were granted political asylum in Europe, notably in the 1990s, when Ankara's heavy-handed policies against the Kurdish minority put its human rights record under the international spotlight.