Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Turkey about the number of children killed by military and police action in Turkey since June 2015.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As I said in my answer to Lord Patten’s question on 1 February (HL5288), the ongoing violence in south east Turkey 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, including children, 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.
