The Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) Executive Committee member Duran Kalkan was interviewed in a special programme broadcast on Medya Haber TV.
Kalkan expressed his views on a broad range of topics, from the raids in France to the ongoing tension in Sinjar.
Kalkan first shared his views on the recent phone call with Abdullah Öcalan, stating that the Turkish state tried to “cover up a crime.”
“There is an obvious violation of rights. With this phone call, they try to cover it up. And they also try to reduce the public reaction of our people,” he said.
‘The credibility of the EU is harmed’
Discussing the raids in France targeting Kurdish activists, Kalkan said that the credibility of the EU is harmed by such anti-democratic actions.
He also recalled the recent speculations on the role of Turkish intelligence in the murder of three Kurdish woen politicans in Paris in 2013.
“France arrests Kurds instead of revealing the truth about Turkish intelligence,” he said.
“Such attacks harm the credibility and the dignity of the European Union itself,” he added. “They harm their own future. Kurds do not believe in them anymore. People of the Middle East, people of Turkey do not believe in them anymore. As far as people see it, the EU can sell out any values for their own benefits.”
‘People of of Sinjar deserve autonomy’
Regarding the recent developments in Sinjar, Kalkan said, “It is not possible to understand the attitude of the Iraqi administration. Sulaymaniyah, Hewler and Duhoq have an autonomous Kurdish administration. People of Sinjar are Kurds as well. The Yazidi people are Kurds as well.
“Why do they accept autonomy for the Kurds there, but not accept autonomy for the Kurds in Sinjar?” he asked.
People of of Sinjar deserve autonomy as well, said Kalkan, but the Iraqi government does not recognise this right, “Because Turkey does not want them to do so. Turkey is already the enemy of Kurds. AKP-MHP [Justice and Development Party and their coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party] fascism is already the enemy of Kurds and Yazidis.”
Kalkan says the Turkish state is ‘afraid of the HDP’
The PKK Executive finally shared his thoughts on the attempts to shut down the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey.
Behind the attacks on the HDP, Kalkan said, “there is the decadence, the fear of the HDP’s growth. The HDP raises its voice loud to create a democratic Turkey. They are afraid of this.”
Kurds will not lose their political strength, according to Kakan, because “the peoples of Turkey and the Kurdish people do not lack a party or organisation. If they continue such oppression and attacks, this will only give more strength to the PKK and HBDH [the People’s Joint Revolutionary Movement].
“Our struggle for freedom and democracy will grow much stronger to defeat AKP-MHP fascism,” Kalkan said.
