Turkey slams German police over pro-PKK tweet

German intelligence agency BfV said in its annual report that the PKK managed to double its revenues from donations in Germany within the last 10 years.

PKK terror group supporters can be seen waving the terror group's flags in this undated photo.
AFP

PKK terror group supporters can be seen waving the terror group's flags in this undated photo.

Germany's Frankfurt police force sparked outrage among Turkish social media users on Monday by posting a controversial pro-PKK tweet on its official account.

The PKK - listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU - has waged an armed campaign against the Turkish state for over three decades. 

The group resumed its armed campaign in July 2015 after a brief suspension of hostilities. Since then, authorities say it has killed around 1,200 people, including women and children.

Turkey's Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin slammed German police on Tuesday for the tweet, which was interpreted as a support for a rally held in Germany's Frankfurt by PKK sympathisers.

The tweet which translated to: "We are here for you tonight, 'Freedom for Ocalan, Free Kurdistan'," also caused an uproar with Germany's Turkish population.

Around 500 pro-PKK demonstrators gathered at Kennedy Square in Frankfurt on Monday and shouted anti-Turkey slogans.

The protest passed without any confrontation with the police.

Some of the PKK sympathisers carried pro-PKK posters and flags that the German Federal Interior Ministry prohibited in March.

Burak Kararti, the Turkish Consulate General in Frankfurt, said the local police did not intervene to stop the protesters carrying posters of the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan during the rally.

Kararti told Anadolu Agency that they have conveyed Turkey’s protest, and called on German authorities to take necessary measures against terrorist propaganda and impose a ban on PKK symbols.

Germany’s reluctance to take serious measures against the activities of PKK has been a major source of tension between the two NATO allies.

Germany outlawed the PKK in 1993, but the country's authorities have been reluctant to take strong measures against the funding, propaganda and recruitment activities of the group, despite repeated warnings from Turkey.

The group has nearly 14,000 followers among Germany’s immigrant population, according to the German domestic intelligence agency BfV.

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