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  5. QA: 4 -8 February 2008, Response of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson to a Question Concerning the Court Decision Announced in Belgium on 7 February 2008 about the DHKP-C Terrorist Organisation
QA: 4 -8 February 2008, Response of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson to a Question Concerning the Court Decision Announced in Belgium on 7 February 2008 about the DHKP-C Terrorist Organisation
The conviction of 7 members of the DHKP-C terrorist organisation by the  Belgian Brugges Court in November 2006, was overturned  by the Belgian Higher Court on 19 April 2007. The members of the DHKP-C terrorist organisation were retried in the Anvers Court of Appeals on 8 and 20 November 2007 for crimes committed in Belgium

The Anvers Court of Appeals, by its decision of 7 February in this case, acquitted the accused of the charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation or gang, convicted three of the terrorists for the crimes of forgery and possession of firearms, but deferred their sentences

Among the convicted members of the terrorist organization, Fehriye Erdal is one of the perpetrators of the assasination carried out on 9 January 1996 which resulted in the deaths of Ozdemir Sabanci and his co-workers.  The sentence passed upon the terrorist Fehriye Erdal, currently a fugitive from the law, pertain to her activities in Belgium, and the legal process related to her trial in Belgium for crimes committed in Turkey continues, in accordance with the 29 March 2007 decision of the Belgian Gand Court

The decision of the Anvers Court of Appeals will be examined in detail once it is received and the possibility of appeal will be explored.  However, based on initial reports, if it is true that the mentioned Court while reaching its decision acted according to the assessment that the actions of DHKP-C in Turkey, Germany or the Netherlands do not have a bearing on the trial in Belgium, it is without doubt that this assessment constitutes a violation of the fundamental principles of the global fight against terrorism, first and foremost with resolutions of the United Nations Security Council

This assessment of the Court will also contradict the decisions of the EU Council, which has since May 2002 included DHKP-C in its list of terrorist organizations, and  thereby EU lawThe Turkish people who have sacrificed thousands of victims to terrorism resent the decision of the Belgian court. It is certain that such decisions embolden terror organisations.