E.U. To Include Pkk In Its List Of Terrorist Organizations

BRUSSELS (A.A) - 29.04.2002 - The EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), at a meeting on Monday, greenlighted to include terrorist organization PKK in its list of terrorist organizations. The Committee did not include terrorist organization DHKP-C and a number of other terrorist organizations which Turkey asked the EU to also add to the list.
Reliable sources said that COREPER today decided to include nine other terrorist organizations in its list. Only one of them, the PKK, was among the terrorist organizations which Turkey demanded the EU to include in the list.
Sources indicated that the PKK changed its name to Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) on April 4, 2002 but this wasn't taken into consideration by the EU and the PKK's new name did not appear on the new list.
Through this decision, COREPER started a ''period of silence'', a method often used in NATO but an unusual one for the EU. According to this process, if none of the 15 EU member countries objects to the list until Thursday, the new list will be officially accepted and it will be approved at the monthly meeting of the EU Council on May 13, 2002 without being debated.
Turkish diplomatic sources in Brussels are saying that Turkey should be cautious and wait for Thursday. The EU sources stated that including the PKK to the list had been discussed for a long time among EU countries and therefore they weren't expecting any opposition from the members in the next three days.
If a last minute change doesn't take place, the PKK will appear on the the EU's list of terrorist organizations on May 13, 2002. This will allow the EU countries to freeze the financial assets of the PKK, shut down its representative bureaus and start cooperation against this organization.
Officials said that they didn't know how the PKK's change of name would affect the fight against this organization in practice.