EU minister Çelik dismisses EP rapporteur Piri's remarks

Turkish EU Minister Ömer Çelik dismissed the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, Kati Piri's recent remarks, in which she said the PKK and its affiliated groups are not a threat to EU but Daesh is.

Çelik said Turkey will not take seriously any comments about Turkey coming from Piri, someone whom Çelik said has a distorted mentality, as the minister vowed to continue fighting against both Daesh and PKK.

In an interview Saturday with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-funded Ahval, Piri claimed that Daesh was not a priority threat for Turkey but PKK was, while an opposite situation was the case for the European Parliament.

"Here is the issue; for us, the Kurdish militia, the PKK and its variations are not a threat. There are no attacks of PKK in the Netherlands, Belgium or France. For us, when it comes to Syria, apart from the humanitarian catastrophe, the threat is ISIS," Piri said, using a different acronym for the extremist terror group.

Çelik said on his Twitter account: "It is good that they have frankly expressed the abstrusity in their heads. They have put an end to their ugly game of words."

Accusing Piri of lacking basic-level information of terrorist organizations, Çelik said Turkey is the only country that puts an effective fight against both Daesh and PKK.

"It is clear that PKK is actively being protected in many places in Europe. We have seen that our flag was illuminated on the European public buildings when we were attacked by Daesh. The same thing did not happen after Turkey suffered a PKK terror attack."

Ankara has long criticized European countries for ignoring outlawed groups and terrorist organizations, like the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which continue to operate in Germany, Belgium, France and other EU countries.