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The co-president of the Executive Council of the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), Cemil Bayık, spoke to Sterk TV in a special broadcast about the recent developments in Turkey and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Bayık shared information on the ongoing clashes between the Kurdish fighters and the Turkish armed forces in the Zap, Metina and Avashin regions of Iraqi Kurdistan and he referred to the relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
“They use all possible weapons in their attacks. The weapons belong to NATO. NATO keeps on handing over these weapons to Turkey. They also use chemical weapons. Despite all the weapons they have, despite their high-tech tools, they are far from achieving any result. That is why they want to deliver a blow with chemical weapons,” he said.
He added: “Other than that, the KDP surrounds the guerrilla zones. This is what Hulusi Akar asked of them. Peshmerga is not a part of the war. Special forces linked to the KDP surround the guerrilla zones.
“These forces are different from the peshmerga. These are paid forces representing only the KDP. They limit the radius of action of the guerrilla. They are trying to prevent the guerrilla from acquiring their material needs.
“With all that, they are acting for the benefit of the occupying states. That is why a great number of friends of the Kurds, Kurdish artists, politicians and institutions stated that they did not accept such a situation. They reacted against that and they organised protests.”
Bayık saluted the Defend Kurdistan Initiative, stating that their work has served to benefit the Kurdish people.
“For example, an important initiative was formed in this regard. That was called the Defend Kurdistan Initiative. This initiative has served to assist the Kurdish people to a considerable extent,” he said. “We take the statements and demands of the Defend Kurdistan Initiative, of the artists and of its many valuable people, as an instruction to ourselves.”
Bayık stressed that the PKK has no intention or purpose of waging a war against the KDP. “So, if Kek Masoud had stated that he keeps his promise, he must show this in practice. So all suspicions can disappear. We are ready to do anything on our part,” he said.
Bayık also commented on the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s last visit in Diyarbakır (Amed), which is known as the heartland of the Kurds in Turkey. He stated that Erdoğan sought to “polish his image” by his visit to Diyarbakır and to lay the groundwork of his assimiliative and denialist policies against the Kurds.
“Nobody should ever believe in what Erdoğan says, because lies and deceitful policies are all that he has to offer. Thanks to these lies, he was able to remain in power up until today and this is is how he makes his politics,” Bayık said.
He drew attention to the content of Erdoğan’s speech which he gave in Diyarbakır. “He made speeches targeting the Peoples’ Democratic Party, the HDP, because they have launched the process to ban the HDP. They are aware of the fact that if the HDP is banned, they will face a massive reaction,” he said. “That is why they are trying to tackle the upcoming reactions beforehand and to block people’s reactions in case the HDP is banned.”
In addition to this, in the Turkish media, particular attention has been paid towards Erdoğan’s move to bring up the topic of the “peace process” for the first time in years, since 2015 when the “process” collapsed. Erdoğan somehow owned the peace talks and blamed the HDP for the collapse of the process, claiming that the HDP had a “secret agenda.”
Commenting on this, Bayık argued that Erdoğan uses this tactic, which he also used against the PKK during the peace talks, and which he is now using against the HDP.
“It is Erdoğan who always had a secret agenda, not the HDP,” Bayık said. “As the whole world knows, it was Erdoğan himself who halted the peace talks. But he thinks that by denying his role after many years, he can fool everyone.”
Bayık referred to Abdullah Öcalan’s role in the peace process: “Leader Apo, in his very harsh circumstances, stepped up and said, ‘If you want a solution, I am ready for one.’ He undertook a great struggle to change the mentality in Turkey.”
Bayik further stated: “Whenever the struggle grows, the Turkish state is stuck. To which tactic do they resort to? They want to meet with leader Apo. They resort to such a tactic to get out of a tight corner. When the struggle comes to a point where it pressurises them, they find no choice but to visit leader Apo. That is why our struggle needs to be amplified.”
Commenting on Abdullah Öcalan’s prison isolation, Bayık said, “The brutal politics, the isolation, the torture and the inhuman practices were imposed on leader Apo because he was the one to expose the genocidal characteristics of their politics. That is why they insist on his isolation. On behalf of the leader Apo, they have been conducting an annihilation and destruction plan against the Kurdish people.”
