Mustafa Karasu, a member of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) has recently shared his evaluations on the debates around the comments of US President Joe Biden’s accusing Turkey of undermining the fight against ISIS, Turkey’s alleged use of toxic gases in ongoing cross-border operations in northern Iraq and on the role of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on attacks on Kurdish fighters, especially in Khalifan ambush.
Karasu appealed to the United Nations and the European Union to take their appeals seriously and investigate Turkey’s use of chemical gases.
“Chemical weapons have been deployed for months now. Since they are desperate against the guerrilla in the war tunnels, where their fighter jets are not effective, since no artillery they have is effective, they deploy chemical weapons and toxic gases,” he said.
“We have been saying this now for months, but nobody acts on it, as if Turkey has the right to use chemical weapons.”
He underlined that the issue they have been raising is a serious matter of “war crimes”. “Are these weapons allowed to be used against the Kurds and the PKK?” he asked.
“The UN, the EU and all the governments who signed treaties that ban chemical weapons should bring clarity to this issue.”
Karasu said that by Biden saying that Turkey’s presence in North East Syria poses a threat is an admission that the Kurds were right.
“The statements of Biden should be given value and evaluated seriously. Kurdish people, peoples in Rojava and North East Syria have long been telling the world that Turkey occupies their lands, that Turkey disrupts peace and stability, that Turkey is not only an enemy to the peoples of Syria, but of the whole Middle East.”
Biden makes the evaluations, which have already been made by the Kurds, Karasu highlighted.
“This is to admit explicitly that the US policy before was wrong and that the Kurds were right.”
Karasu also made a special appeal to US President Joe Biden about Turkey’s military presence in North East Syria. “If the US President thinks so, then what should be done is to give support to the struggle of the Kurds against occupation, to ensure that Turkey withdraws from there.”
The KCK executive also shared new details regarding the Khalifan incident, saying that they received tangible information that special KDP forces, called Roj Peshmerga, have been involved in the killing of six Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.
The People’s Defence Forces (HPG), an armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, announced on 3 October that six Kurdish fighters from a group of seven fighters had been killed on 28 August as a result of an ambush by the KDP forces in the Khalifan region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
“The Khalifan incident is a serious matter, yet there is no explanation issued. And we have a witness, one witness.”
A young Kurdish fighter who survived the attack reported that six Kurdish fighters were slaughtered “without any former warning”, according the Karasu.
“For 16 days, with no shoes to wear, with no food to eat he walked to reach our other friends. He came back as a witness and explained how our friends were slaughtered without any former warning. This is an act of an enemy, not of a friend. This is something Turkey does,” Karasu said.
According to information shared by Karasu some members of the KDP’s special forces, called the Roj Peshmerga, had called their families, who are in Rojava and told them: “Some PKK-members came to Khalifan, now we arrived here to face them.”
“This means those, who slaughtered our friends in Khalifan are those affiliated with the KDP, not the forces of the government. These are special forces of the KDP and the gangs called Roj Peshmerga. These are gangs,” Karasu said.
Karasu strongly criticised the KDP and the forces named the Roj Peshmerga and said that the KDP should be held accountable for the killing of Kurdish fighters in an ambush like that.
“Calling them peshmerga is an insult to the peshmerga who waged a struggle in the past. These are simply gangs. Just like Turkey created gangs out of the Arabic youth in Syria, now the KDP creates their own gangs too,” he said.
“What are these forces? Are these official forces? Whose money is paid to these gangs called the Roj Peshmerga? The people’s money; not the government’s money. The government pays no funds to these forces.”
