Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent deaths of Kurdish men and youths in Van and other parts of south-east Turkey since 1 January; and whether they have made representations to the government of Turkey about that matter.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The ongoing violence in the predominantly Kurdish areas of south east Turkey, including Van, is extremely concerning. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill members of the Turkish police service and security forces in violent terrorist attacks. We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians who have been caught up in the violence. We have been clear, in public and private, that PKK violence must end and we support a return to the peace process, in the interests of Turkey and the region. We stand ready to help in any way we can. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised the need to respect human rights and the importance of avoiding civilian casualties to the Government of Turkey.