Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani parliament will not adopt a statement labeling Kurdish rebel group PKK as a terror group, an MP represented in the commission set up for the purpose says. Panah Huseynov said several members of the commission have appealed to its chairman Ziyafat Asgarov enquiring about the reason the body's meetings have not taken place. Asgarov replied that the joint declaration signed during Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visit to Azerbaijan early this month with his counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku included a separate provision recognizing PKK as a terrorist organization. Therefore, there is no longer a need to pass a separate statement to that end in the legislature. The parliament is to ratify the document shortly. Another member of the commission, chairman of pro-government Ana Vatan party Fazayil Aghamali confirmed the report, saying that the presidential declaration had more legal force than a statement that could be passed by the parliament. Turkey blames PKK for the killings of over 30,000 people. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks by the guerillas in attacks from mountain hideouts near the border. Ankara has not ruled out diplomacy as a way to end stand-off but threatened to send forces into northern Iraq. The Turkish parliament has recently authorized the country's military to launch a cross-border attack on the militants at any time. Head of the Constitution Foundation Alimammad Nuriyev said that passing decisions on the recognition of any given organization as a terror group by European parliaments allows the authorities in these countries to arraign members of these groups. "The adoption of a relevant decision by the Milli Majlis would lay enough grounds to prosecute PKK members even if they had not committed any crimes in our country's territory," Nuriyev said. He noted that taking the move would also mean putting forward Azerbaijan's strong will in fighting terror, "but ratifying the declaration signed by the presidents does not provide such opportunities at all". Nuriyev said that if Baku confines to parliamentary approval of the document, lengthy procedures would be needed to hold terror cell activists criminally accountable.