The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) have responded to a devastating fire in Kurdish-majority areas of Turkey with a strong call for Kurdish communities to rely on self-organisation and solidarity, criticising the Turkish government as fascist and genocidal.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Kurdish umbrella organisation made a powerful and impassioned call to action and solidarity in response to the fire that spread through Mardin (Merdin) and Diyarbakır (Amed), impacting numerous villages and causing loss of life, injuries and widespread destruction.
The KCK statement emphasised the need for Kurdish communities to “do whatever needs to be done without waiting for anything from the [Turkish] state”. It called for self-organisation, saying that the state is not to be relied upon and that Kurdish people must unite in solidarity to address their own needs and challenges.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP)-Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) government is vehemently condemned, with the KCK describing it as “fascist, genocidal and colonialist” and “in no condition to function for society”. The statement accuses government institutions like Dicle Electricity Distribution Inc (DEDAŞ) of perpetrating policies that harm Kurdish interests, including deliberate destruction of nature and exploitation of resources.
The KCK explicitly accused the Turkish government and DEDAŞ of engaging in actions tantamount to genocide against Kurds, both through direct violence and environmental degradation, framing the fire incident not just as an accident but as part of a broader strategy to “destroy the nature of Kurdistan, to massacre the Kurdish people, to make them suffer losses, to make them flee and migrate”.
Despite the dire circumstances, the statement applauded the solidarity shown by Kurdish communities in response to the disaster. It called for continued support and unity among Kurds to mitigate the effects of the fire, help the affected communities and resist what it perceives as ongoing oppression and neglect, and urged Kurdish people to safeguard their homes, lands and resources from what it labels as genocidal policies.
