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Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) co-chair Cemil Bayık stated that Turkey ramped up its attacks in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and north Syria after the NATO deal between Turkey, Sweden and Finland at the end of June.
Speaking to Fırat News Agency, Bayık added that the repression targeting journalists and dissidents has also further increased during the same process.
The trilateral memorandum signed by the three countries on 28 June during the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, secured Turkish support for Sweden and Finland’s accession in return for their assurance to prosecute and extradite Kurdish activists with alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), not to support the People’s Defence Units (YPG) in north Syria, and an end to the arms embargoes imposed on Turkey after its occupation of parts of northern Syria in 2019.
Bayık said:
“Erdoğan clearly said, ‘Everyone should consent to my policies. I’ll accept the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO if they do. I will not if they don’t. They must have consented in Madrid, because the path is now clear for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. What is the meaning of this? This means that they accepted Erdoğan’s policies targeting the PKK and the Kurdish people. Erdoğan’s policy against PKK is a policy of total annihilation. His policy against Kurdish people is a policy of genocide. His policy targeting other peoples in the region is a policy of neo-Ottomanism. His polices have been approved in Madrid.”
He continued:
“After the Turkish administration’s genocidal policies had been approved by NATO, it stepped up its attacks and massacres, both in Rojava [northeast Syria] and in Başûr [Iraqi Kurdistan]. It also represses, by arrests and torture, democrats, journalists, artists, virtually all dissidents in Turkey. This also is an indication that it managed to get approval for its policies.”
