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Mustafa Karasu, Executive Council member of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) spoke in a special program broadcast on Medya Haber TV regarding the recent political developments in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey.
Commenting on Turkey’s campaign in the Zap, Metina and Avashin regions in northern Iraq, Karasu said the whole process had turned into a “defeat” for Turkey, the opposite of what the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) government had expected.
“The Turkish state thought that they would get into all the regions in a week. However, the guerilla, the female and the male guerilla together displayed humanity, showed the peoples of the world how to resist for humanity, for freedom and for democracy; how to resist for one’s country, for one’s own people,” he said.
“Truly, this resistance they have brought to bear will determine our future. This resistance has carried our history of struggle to a new level.”
Karasu also spoke on the recent tensions between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq .
According to Karasu, it is impossible to make sense of the attitude and the approach of the KDP.
“It cannot be explained by Kurdishness, by any understanding of democracy, by conscience or by morals. With such an attitude they only serve genocidal colonialism, they serve the Turkish state,” he said.
He stated that the KDP knows the truth of the Turkish state just as all other Kurdish parties do, yet they act in a way to serve the benefit of Turkey, not to the common benefit of all the Kurdish people, he added.
“The truth of the Turkish state is known to everyone, first and foremost to the Kurds. Actually, our struggle was to expose the truth of the Turkish state to the Kurdish people, to the peoples of the Middle East and to the peoples of the world. They are genocidal, they are colonialist. They want to destroy the Kurds,” he said.
Karasu went on: “The KDP takes such a position that it not only accepts the attacks of the Turkish state as legitimate, but also, in practice, surrounds the guerilla in a way to facilitate and serve the Turkish state.
“If the PKK were to suffer a blow, all Kurds would be affected. The biggest source of resistance for the Kurds would be destroyed. The biggest source of resistance for the Kurds is the PKK. Even a blind person could see this.
“In this regard, it is wrong to perceive this problem as an issue between the KDP and the PKK. It should be perceived as the problem of all Kurds, the problem of the future of the Kurds. If this policy of the KDP is not stopped, if the KDP’s support for the Turkish state is not prevented, all political structures will be affected, not only the PKK.”
Not being able to see this, Karasu further noted, means that you “do not understand the political truth of the Middle East” or “the Kurdish truth.”
“All Kurdish political movements should take a joint stance, but they should also take action,” he said.
Karasu also shared his evaluations on the political developments in Turkey mainly focusing on the court case demanding the closure of the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
“The court case demanding closure of the HDP is not a local issue. It is a part of the war waged against the freedom struggle of the Kurdish people. We cannot evaluate the attacks on the forces of democracy in Turkey separately from the attacks on the guerilla and on the HDP,” he said.
Karasu shared his view that the attack on the HDP is a part of the policy which seeks to liquidate the Kurdish freedom movement and to crush the forces of democracy.
“The attitude and approach of the HDP cannot be a subject to such an indictment. This can only be explained by the laws of war, laws for the enemy” he said. “The HDP is clearly seen as an enemy.”
“The HDP has has as good as become a sacrificial lamb. Even the people who approach the HDP as friends are seen as enemies.”
Karasu believes that such repression of the HDP is an indicator of a “simple fact” about the Turkish government: “Since they are hard pressed, since they are struggling with the fight against the HDP, they want to ban the HDP.”
The right thing to do now is not to worry about whether or not the HDP will be banned, Karasu suggested, “but to heighten the struggle and topple this government, take down this government.”
Karasu oberved that both nationally and internationally the Turkish government has been increasingly losing its support.
“Yes, there is still some support from abroad and some piecemeal national support to keep the AKP alive, but this is not enough to keep the AKP on its feet. As long as a sincere struggle is waged, this government will be taken down, and they will be taken down, because they have lost all their legitimacy,” Karasu said.
Strongly condemning the killing of HDP official Deniz Poyraz, Karasu pointed to the attitude of the family of the murdered Kurdish woman. “The attitude of the family of Deniz Poyraz is very clear, they are an example to everyone, because fearing fascism, stepping back from fascism, will gain you nothing. This is surrender, this is to die. If we want to live, if we want to achieve freedom and democracy, we have to risk paying the price and struggle for them.”
“Now hundreds, thousands are on the streets. If they become tens of thousands, this will mean the end of this government. There will be nothing they can do but run away.”
