(LUXEMBOURG) - A European court on Thursday annulled a 2002 EU decision to list a Kurdish rebel group in Turkey as a terrorist organisation, but Brussels said the ruling would have no practical effect.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), engaged in an armed struggle for self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984, had been placed on the EU list after the UN Security Council demanded a crackdown on the financing of terrorism following the attacks September 11, 2001.

In its ruling, the Luxembourg European Court of First Instance -- the EU's second highest court -- judged that the EU had failed at the time to provide adequate reasons for listing the group.

An EU spokesman said the ruling would have no impact as the 2002 list had since been updated several times and was now in compliance in terms of justifying the PKK's inclusion.

The PKK is among 48 groups named in the current EU roster of terror groups, along with the armed Basque separatist group ETA, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers and the Islamist group Hamas.

Those on the list are subject to an asset and funding freeze.

Turkey, which launched a cross-border incursion against PKK bases in northern Iraq earlier this year, said the court judgement would only serve to undermine anti-terror efforts.

"The judges were supposed to think very well before making such a ruling that weakens the international struggle against terrorism," Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

"I wish they had come to Turkey... and seen the threats," he said. "But, of course, they made the decision at home where there is no risk of terrorism, far from the realities."

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since it took up arms in 1984.

The register was drawn up to respect a UN Security Council resolution adopted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks which demanded that countries crack down on "terror" financing.

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