E.U. Commission: P.K.K. Is A Terrorist Organization

BRUSSELS, March 26 (A.A) - A report, prepared by the European Union (EU) commission, pertaining to the smuggling incidents which some U.S. cigarette producer companies got involved in, described terrorist PKK organization as ''Kurdish terrorist network''. The report said the terrorist organization marketted smuggled U.S. cigarettes and profited large sums of money, and thus the Americans fed terrorism and the terrorists.
Michaele Schreyer, the EU Commission member responsible for budget, said an investigation had been launched against ''Philip Morris'' and ''RJ Reynolds'' some of the U.S. cigarette production companies. The Commission later filed a suit against the two companies in question on charges that they made smuggling in international level, and did not pay tax.
The New York court rejected this application of the EU on February 19 saying that a foreign country could not file a suit in the United States on charges that ''there are taxes which have not been paid.''
Schreyer said the U.S. court left a door open to the EU, noting that the judicial initiatives would continue, and that a very big smuggling incident and network was in question, and that the EU will continue to fight against corruption, terrorism and organized crimes by using all its facilities.
The EU Commission defends that it has ''strong evidences'' regarding the smuggling and corruption incidents which the companies got involved.
According to the research report prepared within the body of ''Olaf'', which is the EU institution against corruption, the cigarette smuggling which the U.S. companies got involved, causes a loss of more than one billion euro to the EU in one year. It said a smuggling incident, which has not been seen before, was in question.
The report and the documents which the EU submitted to the U.S. companies, prove that the U.S. companies in question fed the ''safe-deposit boxes of the terrorist PKK organization'' through smuggling.
The EU reminds that the United States, who calls for a more concrete cooperation in fight against terrorism since September 11, often accuse the west European countries of protecting the terrorist organization. The EU said, ''whereas some multi-national companies of the United States disregard completely the new fight against law and feed the safe-deposit box of terorist organizations like the PKK, and violate the embargo toward Iraq.''
According to the EU report, within the framework of the cigarette smuggling which continued since the beginning of 1990's, the American cigarettes first reach Valencia port of Spain, and transferred to the Greek Cypriot side by ship from there. The brand and the amounts of the cigarettes are determined with the researches that have been made.
The report said half of the cigarettes were tranferred to Mersin port of Turkey after some changes on the brands of the cigarettes. It was also claimed that some of those cigarettes were sent to Beirut.
The report pointed out that the operations were directed from Geneva and Cyprus, noting that the documents stated the delivery point of the containers carrying the cigarettes, as Russia.
According to the report, the containers which were brought from Mersin to the Turkish-Iranian border, are lost at this stage.
Under the searches made by a Turkish security expert assigned possibly by the EU, the cigarettes enter Iraq through the Habur gate with lorries. Most of the cigarettes bear the brand Winston and Philip Morris.
The evidences presented by the EU experts show that the smuggled cigarettes were given under the control of terrorist PKK organization in Iranian and Iraqi border, and passed the borders through this organization. The EU stated that PKK was recognized and described as ''terrorist organization'' by the United States, and particularly stressed that this organization launched many terrorist actions in Europe.
The EU defended that the smuggling in question also fed Saddam Hussein regime, and that Saddam's son Uday took the cigarette smuggling network in Iraq under total control.
The EU Commission said law on fight against terrorism, which the United States put into implementaton after September 11 attacks and the attitude of some U.S. companies totally contradicted.
The Commission said they would not give up pursuing the smuggling companies which feed the terrorist organizations, and that judicial initiatives would continue.