The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) issued a comprehensive analysis of the Kurdistan Communities Union’s (KCK) declaration on a military halt until the elections to be held on 14 May in Turkey and urged the international community to support a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), ahead of the elections.
The KNK emphasised the importance of the international community’s role in observing and ensuring fair elections in Turkey, urging the European Union, the United States, the United Nations, and the Council of Europe to send a clear message that they will not tolerate the intimidation of opposition politicians and voters.
The KNK also called for pressure on Turkey to accept the KCK’s recent peace initiative, stating that it is a historic opportunity for common sense and participatory democracy based on peace, dialogue, human dignity, equality, freedom, and justice.
Besê Hozat, the co-chair of the KCK executive council, announced last week that the Kurdish military forces decided to extend the no-action period until the elections.
“By offering this initiative, the Kurdish freedom movement has once again credibly demonstrated that it is interested in finding a political solution to the thirty-nine-year war between the Turkish state and the PKK,” the KNK said in the analysis.
The KNK further emphasised the crucial importance of ending the illegal regime in Imrali Prison Island and granting access to Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of PKK, stating that an independent medical delegation and his lawyers urgently need to be allowed to visit him.
“The EU, NATO, and the CoE need to decide if they want Erdoğan to remain at Turkey’s helm. Will these international organisations and Turkey’s partner states finally consider the proposals of opposition forces in the country, and above all, those of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)?” the KNC stated.
The KNC warned that without international pressure and oversight, the suffering of the people of Turkey and Kurdistan will continue, and called on the international community to prevent further suffering and create a peaceful environment.
“The agonising moans of the latest Kurdish victims as they convulse and take their last breaths are calling out to the entire world: Peace! Freedom! and fair elections!” the KNC concluded.
In the dossier, the KNK analyses the history of the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, the Turkish government’s human rights violations, the Kurdish proposals for alternative governance, Erdoğan’s policies towards the Kurds and the isolation of Öcalan. The full dossier is available here.
