Federal PM calls on the Turkish and Kurdish communities to stop “provocations and violence”
The Federal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Flemish liberal) has called on the Kurdish and Turkish communities in Belgium to stop "provocations and violence". Mr De Croo was speaking following a meeting of the National Security Council, where the current tension between the two communities was one of the issues discussed.
In recent days there have been a number of incidents between members of the Turkish and Kurdish communities. The series of incidents first began on Sunday when Kurds drove around Heusden-Zolder (a municipality in Limburg Province with a sizable Turkish community) waving Kurdish flags and chanting slogans supporting the PKK, an armed Kurdish separatist group that is on the EU terror list.
Mr De Croo called for "provocations and violence to stop. People are free to have opinions and thoughts, but expressions of support for terrorist organisations will not be tolerated".
The Federal PM added that “The PKK is considered to be a terrorist group in Europe. Having sympathy for the Kurdish cause is something else altogether".
The Federal Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (Flemish Christian democrat) echoed this view. Verlinden said that "foreign disputes should not be imported into Belgium".