The case concerns an applicant from Turkey, of Kurdish origin and of Zoroastrian religion, who applied for international protection in Belgium. The CGRS decided to exclude him from protection as there were serious reasons to believe that he was guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations because of his actions in support of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which should be considered as a terrorist organisation. Therefore, the applicant should be excluded as he falls under Article 1 (F) (c) of the Geneva Convention.

On appeal, and considering different sources of information concerning the nature, structure, activities and methods of the PKK, the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CALL) considered that the acts committed by the organisation cannot be qualified as terrorist acts. For this reason, the applicant cannot be excluded from international protection as decided by the CGRS. The Council added that it cannot be excluded that another exclusion clause might be applicable. Therefore, it annulled the decision and referred the case back to the CGRS for further assessment to consider whether the applicant is individually liable for any war crimes committed by the PKK within the meaning of Article 1 (F) (a) of the Geneva Convention.