FM Davutoglu slams Berlin on IHH ban amid failure to target PKK supporters

Germany recently banning the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) charity group for alleged links to Hamas while Turkey steps up complaints about European indifference toward the terrorist PKK is leading to friction between the two countries. "The German silence over those who aid the PKK while it bans the IHH is incomprehensible," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday. "There is no court verdict concerning the IHH being banned for aiding Gaza, but there are court rulings proving that the PKK is a terrorist organization." The issues of the PKK and IHH are expected to come up during a meeting between Davutoglu and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle when he visits Turkey later this month. In a meeting on the sidelines of last week's Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Kazakhstan, Davutoglu urged Westerwelle to take measures against the PKK. Germany outlawed the IHH for directly or indirectly funneling financial donations to terrorist groups including Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. But the links between the Turkish IHH and German IHH are unclear. Despite sharing the same name, the Turkish IHH that organized the flotilla to Gaza denies any links with the German IHH. Ankara has recently stepped up complaints about EU member states not doing enough to combat the PKK, as when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month chided European states for not extraditing terrorists even when Turkish officials send the necessary paperwork.