Besê Hozat, co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), gave an overarching analysis of the complicity of the Iraqi government and the KDP in the Turkish invasion plans in Iraqi Kurdistan, in an interview for the organisation’s website on 24 April.
Hozat argued that: “For some time now, the AKP-MHP fascist government has been seeking to secure support internally and externally for an all-out genocidal war against the Kurds. Under the name of politics, the fascist government has been intensely conducting military diplomacy, seeking the support of both international powers and regional states. The KDP and the forces in Southern Kurdistan are also wanted [by Turkey] to be actively involved in this war.” She added that Erdoğan “is working to involve the KDP more actively in this war.”
A recent report in The New Arab surmised that the military agreements with the KDP and the Iraqi government were in return for Turkey signing off on several infrastructure development projects, including the $17bn Iraqi Development Road scheme. The planned road will link Iraq’s oil-rich Grand Faw Port with Turkey. Agreements this week also included a deal between Turkey and Iraq on water.
Hozat sees the ‘Development Road’ project as “a trap for Iraq”. In her view, “Turkey hides its neo-Ottomanist, occupying and expansionist policies under the name of that project. If Iraq plays Turkey’s game, it will lose. It would be putting its own land to the service of Turkey’s expansionist and occupationist dreams.”
Hozat also pointed out that Turkey is using “the Euphrates and Tigris water as blackmail”. In the past decades, Turkey has constructed hundreds of mega-dams on the two rivers, starving Syria and Iraq, which lie downstream, of water. This week, it seems that the Turkish state has used its domination of the region’s water as an effective bargaining chip to enlist allies in its war on the PKK.
In fact, Hozat sees all of Turkey’s infrastructure projects as part of its neo-colonial plans for the region. According to Hozat: “Turkey definitely has expansionist ambitions in every project it develops in the region. Each and every one of these projects are a product of racist, chauvinist ideology. It is a product of neo-Ottoman policies.” She added that the projects will make “no contribution or benefit to neither the peoples, nor the states of that region.”
She warned that Turkey is using many different strategies to gain political and economic control in Iraq. She pointed out that: “Our comrades have warned Iraq on this issue, not to fall for this game. Turkey’s sole aim is to establish hegemony over Iraq. It is already trying to lay the groundwork for this in Kirkuk. It is mobilizing Turkmens in Kirkuk, Til Afer and Mosul. It has entered Iraq militarily, politically and economically. It is building companies everywhere to gain leverage… It is trying to achieve its expansionist, Neo-Ottomanist policies by taking advantage of Iraq’s weakness.”
Hozat remains defiant, despite the recent agreements. She stressed that, “Whatever path Iraq decides to take, the Kurdish guerrilla and the people will resist. They will never accept these genocidal, colonialist occupation policies.”
She continued, “The guerrilla are re-writing history with their resistance and skill. They put up a very splendid resistance and put the Turkish army in a quagmire. This will only gain strength moving forward. They will resist in the strongest, most determined, most assertive and strong-willed manner. The guerrilla selflessly defends the honour and freedom of the peoples. Until now, it has waged a selfless struggle and developed resistance. It will do so from now on too.”
Hozat called on the people of Iraqi Kurdistan to “rise up” against Turkish occupation. She argued “the KDP has opened an important part of the South to Turkish occupation… The people there ought to rise up against this. There are very honourable people in the South. The KDP, in partnership with the Turkish state, is massacring these people who resist honourably and take a stance against Turkish occupation.”
Hozat alluded to Serwer Qadir and Muhammed Saîd, the two men killed by Turkish aerial attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan in recent weeks. She pointed out, “One example is our esteemed friend Server, who was murdered in the Bradost area the other day. Many patriots were massacred like this in Behdinan before. These attacks are being conducted everywhere; villages are being bombarded. Another patriot, a young man, was killed in Asos only recently. In order that villages are emptied, the Turkish state and KDP are constantly targeting villages and houses, killing patriots.”
In Hozat’s view, the way to stop these killings is for the people of Iraqi Kurdistan to rise up. She underlined that: “Our people ought to rebel against this, they must rise up everywhere. Had the South reacted to Turkish bombardments and occupation, the Turkish state would not be able to commit civilian massacres so easily. It wouldn’t dare to do such a thing. The KDP is actively taking part in this war of genocide; the parties in the South must react to this. If hundreds of thousands rebelled everywhere, the Turkish state could not massacre these valuable patriots and honourable people. It would be impossible.”
Hozat concluded by warning that Turkey could be preparing a massacre to rival Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign in the 1980s. “I call on our people to take a stand against these genocidal, massacring policies. Turkey is developing a second Anfal against the people of the South. I call on our people to take a stand against this, to rise up,” she said.
