EU Minister set to tour Europe to inform about military operations and peace process

ANKARA

DHA Photo

European Union Minister Volkan Bozkır will travel to a number of European countries this week in order to provide updated information about Turkey’s recent struggle against acts of terrorism and the Kurdish peace process. 

The minister will first meet EU Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn Vienne, followed by a meeting with his German counterpart, Michael Roth. Bozkır will also address the German parliament.

Bozkır will visit some other European capitals and inform his interlocutors about recent development in Turkey and assure them the fight against terrorism does not change the government’s determination on reforms and the peace process. 

The Turkish government informed Western capitals when the Turkish military launched cross-border operations into Iraq aiming to hit outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions. But, as the operations and detention of hundreds take longer, the EU and the U.S. have voiced concerns about the sake of the peace process, which aimed to end three decades of conflict in the country. 

The EU recently expressed “deep concern” about renewed violence between the Turkish government and the PKK and urged Ankara to issue a “proportionate” response to avoid endangering the peace process.

“The commissioner expressed the EU’s deep concern about recent developments which have a negative impact on the Kurdish-Turkish settlement process,” a written statement from the commission read on Aug. 4.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier stated the continuation of the peace process was impossible amid the PKK attacks.