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Kurdistan Communities Union’s (KCK) spokesperson, Zagros Hiwa, rejected Turkey’s allegations that accuse the Kurdish forces of responsibility for the bomb explosion in Istanbul, in an interview with the Norwegian broadcasting channel VG.
Hiwa said that Ankara intentionally accused the Kurdish groups in order to legitimise its cross-border military operation in North and East Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan which started on 19 November.
“We don’t have anything to do with the Istanbul attack. The fatal blast was orchestrated by the Turkish state itself to cultivate nationalist feelings in the Turkish population and to strengthen itself ahead of the 2023 elections,” said Hiwa.
“Another goal is to legitimise the invasion of Kurdish land in Iraq and Syria,” he added.
Hiwa also criticised the EU and US for designating the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist group due to their economic and political interests with the Turkish government.
On 13 November, a bomb exploded in a busy area of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, resulting in the killing of six people and wounding dozens.
After the Istanbul explosion, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and the state-run media blamed the PKK, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and the People’s Defence Units (YPG) for the attack.
The KCK released a public statement on 15 November that strongly condemned the deadly blast and denied the claim that the attack was carried out by YPG forces.
The KCK described the attack as a plan to lift attention away from Turkey’s war crimes, such as using chemical weapons and burning the bodies of its soldiers in the Iraqi Kurdistan mountains.
On 19 November, Turkey started a drone attack campaign against Kurdish forces in North East Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, resulting in the killing of 15 civilians and 11 members of the Kurdish forces.
