Turkey attacks Kurdish culture to eliminate Kurds, Cemil Bayık, Co-Chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council, told Fırat News Agency (ANF) in a recent interview, adding that acts of resistance, such as performing the Kurdish traditional dance govend, preserve the Kurdish identity in the face of a government clampdown on cultural expression.
“Turkey is attacking Kurdish culture to eliminate the Kurds,” Bayık said. “They want to destroy everything related to Kurdish identity. If you want to destroy a people, you eliminate its culture. Without their culture, a people would disappear; they would no longer be able to sustain themselves.”
The KNK co-chair referenced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s past statements on cultural assimilation as being crucial for consolidating state power. Bayık pointed to the state’s actions, such as distributing tablets to primary school children loaded with programmes designed to separate them from their Kurdish roots and instil loyalty to Turkey.
Turkey forces school children to love the state, Bayık said. “In this way, they want to completely eradicate Kurdish society and identity. They ban education in Kurdish, arrest people for cultural expression, and organise state festivals to promote assimilation,” he added.
Bayık urged Kurds to resist state-organised festivals and instead promote their cultural events. “Kurds should organise festivals in their cities, speak Kurdish at rallies and marches, and preserve their language and identity. Our artists should perform in Kurdish, and our people should testify in court in Kurdish.”
The interview also shed light on what Bayık described as ‘ecocide’ in Kurdistan. He accused Turkey of environmental destruction, including deforestation, pollution, and resource extraction, particularly in Şırnak (Şirnex) and Hakkari (Colemêrg).
“Turkey wants to make all of Kurdistan its property,” Bayık said. “They are cutting down trees, destroying forests with bombs, and polluting the water and air. The aim of this destruction is to break the connection between the Kurds and their land and to make the occupation easier.”
Bayık cited reports of increasing suicides among young people and widespread drug distribution as part of the state’s strategy to destabilise Kurdish society. “The state is deliberately distributing drugs, spreading prostitution and spying, and causing great damage to society and nature,” he claimed.
The Mesopotamia Ecology Movement has called on both Kurds and the wider Turkish society to oppose environmental destruction. “The destruction of society and nature must not be allowed,” Bayık stressed.
“People must protect their society, nature, humanity, and values. If even a single tree is cut down, they should stand up against it,” he added.
Bayık’s interview underscores the urgency of collective action against Turkey’s policies, calling for both cultural and environmental resistance to protect Kurdish identity and heritage.
You can access the full four-part interview here.
