Monitoring Desk
ANKARA: Ties between Belgium and terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, were revealed after fresh evidence has come to light following a report by the Belgian Knack Magazine, where details of an alliance between Belgian’s Military Intelligence (ADIV) and the terror group were published.
The report claims that in 2016, Belgium provided medical supplies and weapons training to PKK terrorists in northern Iraq and that Belgium’s Military Intelligence came together with YPG terrorists in the country to provide them with logistics support that same year.
Head of Belgium’s intelligence forced to resign
Eight staff members working for the Military Intelligence grew uncomfortable with their ties to terror organizations and wrote a letter to the General Staff and Defense Ministry. The letter was then forwarded to Belgium’s State Security Service Surete De L’Etat.
Following a series of investigations, the authenticity of the letter was verified and the head of the Military Intelligence (ADIV) General Eddy Testelmans was forced to resign in July 2017.
Belgium’s State Security Service refused to close the file, and the Brussels Public Prosecutor was brought into the mix.
However, that didn’t prove sufficient for the Security Service which ordered an updated report into the issue in order to determine the existence of the undisclosed alliance between the YPG and both the Belgian General Staff and the Defense Ministry.
For a list of names in Raqqa
According to the report, General Eddy Testelmans wanted to make an ally of the YPG to avoid a scenario of Belgian pilots being taken captive by Daesh in coalition flights against the terror group in the case of the downing of an F-16 plane.
Testelmens also thought it was important to get a list of the names of Daesh members of Belgian origin, assuming it was kept in a center in Raqqa, and thinking that he could obtain that “vital” list by allying with YPG terrorists. However, he knew that befriending the YPG would upset Ankara, and that had he asked for the permission of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff regarding this situation, it was very likely that the answer would’ve been negative. Hence, he decided to continue working on it in complete secrecy.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
