*EU
to Put PKK on Terror List -Diplomat
BRUSSELS, April 26 (Reuters) - The European Union will add the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, which waged an armed campaign in southeast Turkey, on its
common list of "terrorist" groups despite the group changing its name,
EU diplomat said on Friday.
The decision to include the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to the list
next week was sure to delight EU candidate Turkey which has long pushed
for tougher European action against the organisation.
Germany and the Netherlands had until now resisted Ankara's call to
put the PKK on the EU list.
The PKK decided earlier this month to cease activities and change its
name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, according to the
Mezopotamya News Agency, which is close to the movement.
Turkey said the change of name did not mean the PKK had ceased to be
"terrorist." But it was not immediately clear whether the EU's move to
add the PKK to its "terror" list would mean any assets in the EU's 15 member
states could be frozen following the PKK ceasing activities.
"It is true that the PKK is to be added to the list on Monday when the
list is revised," one diplomat told Reuters.
The PKK launched its armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast
Turkey in 1984 and more than 30,000 people have died in fighting between
the group and Turkish forces.
Violence tapered off after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in
1999. He has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and to seek
greater cultural rights for its estimated 12 million Kurds through political
means.
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