Greater Middle East (bbabo.net), - Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Cros has called for calm in the country's Turkish and Kurdish communities ahead of local elections in Turkey scheduled for later this week.

At a press conference after a meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday, the Belgian prime minister called on representatives of the two communities to “stop provocations and violence.”

bbabo.net recalls that in recent days there have been several incidents between the Turkish and Kurdish communities. So, last Sunday, March 24, a group of Kurds marched through a village in the province of Limburg, waving their national flag and chanting slogans praising the Kurdistan Workers' Party, classified by the EU as a "terrorist organization." The next day, a demonstration by pro-Kurdish activists waving PKK flags turned into a fight in Brussels' European Quarter. Authorities used water cannons to disperse the crowds, and media reports claimed that Turkish ultranationalists in the eastern province of Limburg attacked a Syrian Kurdish family. Also on the same day, a cafe in a small town became the scene of anti-Turkish attacks. The premises were attacked by groups armed with baseball bats and several people were injured.

“In Belgium there is freedom of expression, but expressions of support for terrorist organizations are unacceptable. The PKK is considered a terrorist group in Europe. Sympathy for the Kurdish cause is a completely different matter,” Alexander de Cros said in a statement.

The prime minister blamed the violence on “people from abroad” who threaten “decades of coexistence” in Belgium. Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden warned at a press conference that “foreign disputes must not be brought into Belgium.”

bbabo.Net