Brussels ( Brussels Morning )- Violent clashes erupt between the Turkish and Kurdish diaspora in Belgium, prompting calls for peace and intervention from authorities.
Over the last few days, Turkish and Kurdish diaspora members in Belgium have been involved in violent confrontations from Liège to Limburg, and Ghent to Brussels. Six people were wounded after a family of Kurds who had observed Nowruz – the start of the Persian New Year – were struck in Heusden-Zolder and Houthalen-Helchteren.
A report from the Council of Kurdish Communities in Belgium (NavBel) noted that the targets were a family of Syrian Kurdish refugees who were peacefully driving their way back home from the Nowruz occasion which hosted up to 5,000 Kurds from all over north-western Europe.
The local police commander in Genk, however, stated there had been a provocation by certain Kurdish parties, who were waving flags while operating in areas known to have large Turkish diasporas. “They began provoking the Turkish population with flags,” stated police chief Geert Verheyen. “This led to a happening in which a young man of Turkish origin asked the caravan why it was essential to drive the streets with flags of PKK. He then acquired several punches.”
One video shows a crew in Houthalen-Helchteren pursuing a car, had “provoked” the masses by giving a hand motion associated with the PKK – a militant Kurdish nationalist movement which has been prescribed as a terrorist group by the EU and the United States.
In one video, a car is caught driving away as a large mob pursues it. The crowd reportedly later caught up with the car and hit up those inside – with some having been hospitalised. Later that evening, police in Limburg were called out to the nearby Heusden-Zolder, where a house full of people of Kurdish heritage was targeted by a crew of around one hundred Turks. The Turkish Embassy in Belgium has charged PKK supporters with being behind the brutality. “PKK militants gathered in Leuven, Belgium, carried out attacks targeting Turkish citizens living in the cities of Heusden-Zolder and Houthalen,” said the embassy. “These incidents once again demonstrate that the PKK terrorist organisation is a danger to social peace and public order in Western Europe.”
“Households peacefully returning home after the spring festival were shot by Turks for having Kurdish flags in the car,” stated one of the organisers Arife Soysuren to News Agency. “It is almost confident that the attack was intended. It is impossible to muster 100 men in ten minutes.” According to NavBel, the family and their neighbours called the authority and their friends for support as they were “completely terrorised”. The Kurds who reached for help were confronted by ultranationalists.
Leaders of both societies in Belgium have called for peace, with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo also calling for a stop to the violence. “Freedom of opinion is secured in Belgium, but expressions in vogue of a terrorist organisation like the PKK will not be accepted,” De Croo stated following a National Security Council meeting.
Since the eruption of the violence, some 40 politicians of Turkish origin, especially from Limburg, also undertook an appeal for calm. Hilal Yalçin, a Flemish CD&V MP and councillor in Beringen recalled that the Turkish and Kurdish communities have lived jointly peacefully for decades. The Council of Kurdish Communities in Belgium also called for peace on Tuesday evening.
“Many provocative happenings have unfortunately occurred,” the organisation lamented. “We call on our society to act only within a legal, compassionate and peaceful framework. We abandon anything that does not fall within this framework. Belgian rules must be respected.”
