Osman Kose, who was claimed to be a consulate employee but was in fact the Bashur (South Kurdistan) officer for the Turkish intelligence service MIT, and two civilians from Bashur were killed in a shooting at the Huqqabaz restaurant on July 17. Two Kurdish men named Mazlum Dag and Muhammed Besiksiz were arrested for the incident. They have been subjected to intense torture during interrogation by MIT operatives. MIT operatives don asayish and peshmerga uniforms and patrol the streets of Hewler, which shows that it is not just Bradost that the Turkish state wishes to invade, but other areas in Bashur as well as Hewler is being invaded with this incident used as an excuse. It is very apparent that the KDP has opened up to this invasion with everything they have.

It has been a week since the Huqqabaz incident, but nothing has been made public on the men captured for allegedly perpetrating the shooting except for two photographs. These two photographs aim to create a certain public perception. But it is not just that.

WHAT DOES THE KDP WISH TO DO WITH THE HEWLER INCIDENT?

Everybody can see that the KDP’s internal conflict has reached peak levels and that a great storm has struck. The conflict between Nechirvan and Masrur Barzani is apparent in the articles published in their respective media organs. With the Huqqabaz incident, the KDP aims to cover up the conflicts and issues reaching levels of clashes within the party, and to freeze up the conflicts over the incident. But the conflicts have only gotten deeper, as various sides are now blaming themselves over it.

KDP has had conflict with Bashur clans throughout its history. They have always wanted to control the clans, and when they failed they resorted to shooting the leaders, or having them shot. Some of these clans are the Rekanis, Zebaris, Bradosts, Surchis and Doskis. Some clan leaders were threatened, and others were shot in a bid to get the clan’s loyalty. Sometimes they tried to connect with the clans through marriages. Other clans were offered bits of power in their government. The clans remained silent for certain things, but when it came to Kurdishness, the cause for Kurdistan and the invasion, the clans rejected KDP’s policies. KDP in turn had the leaders who did not bow down shot or otherwise assassinated. One night in 1995, in the Kalekin village of the Soran region, Surchi clan’s leader Huseyin Agaye Surchi was shot in his home. But the Surchis still didn’t surrender.

KDP TRIES TO REMOVE CLANS AS AN OBSTACLE

Another clan that did not bow down or surrender to the KDP is the Bradosts. The Bradost clan is famous for resisting occupations throughout history. One of the first official insurgencies in Kurdish history was in 1626, led by Emirxane Bradost in the very region the Turkish state is trying to invade now with support from the KDP. The Bradost clan has had an insurgent character in the cause of Kurdishness and Kurdistan, and thus never accepted KDP’s policies devised together with Turkey to invade the land. In the last two years, they have stood out once again as a clan that opposes the Turkish state invasion of their region. As such, the KDP immediately turned against the clan after the Huqqabaza incident. On the second day of the incident, Siddik Bradosti, the son of late clan leader Kerim Xan Bradosti, was detained in Hewler. The clan’s prominent members in Sideka were also detained. Homes were raided. Clan members’ guns were confiscated. Kerim Xan Bradosti’s other son Selam Bradosti went to Hewler to resolve the issue and met with the KDP, asking about the pressure on his brother and the clan. KDP said they aided the perpetrators of the restaurant incident. Selam Bradosti said in a clear manner that the clan has nothing to do with the incident whatsoever. KDP continues to attempt to terrorize the clan to remove it as an obstacle for Turkish invasion forces.

The KDP wants to make their joint attacks with Turkey against the Kurdish Freedom Movement official through the Huqqabaz incident, and to prepare the public for this declaration.

To date, they haven’t been able to announce their collaboration with Turkey against the freedom movement to invade Bradost, Xakurke and Lolan due to pressure by the Kurdish public. The people of Bashur and other parts of Kurdistan would have protested the KDP for carrying out Turkey’s invasion policies. KDP to continue such policies openly would mean they would lose public support completely. They now want to make official their policies with Turkey over these incidents, in line with the thinking of Erdogan. That means they will stand with Turkey in the war against the guerrilla in the coming period.

This plan was made much earlier than the Huqqabaz incident. Shortly before the incident, Erdogan said Turkey would enter Maxmur and Shengal. Nechirvan Barzani’s media organs started to publish content that claimed peshmergas would be involved in the second phase of the Turkish invasion attacks against Bradost. Two days before the incident, Turkey made declarations that announced the second phase of invasion attacks starting. These statements and the data show that the KDP and Turkey have made plans to continue with the invasion attacks together, much earlier than the shooting incident.

There is also a plan being set in motion against the Maxmur Refugee Camp. KDP has surrounded the camp and kept it under constant attack. The people living in the camp and those working in Hewler were targeted. Since the day of the incident, the camp is under a blockade. The residents are banned from going to Hewler. AKP and KDP have thus implemented a policy to evacuate the camp and pressure people to surrender. But this camp has faced any and all kinds of oppression and blockades in 25 years. The KDP knows best that it cannot be made to surrender.

WHEN THE INVASION DIDN’T GO AS THEY PLANNED

The Bradost invasion attacks didn’t produce any results, so they are trying to carry their attacks into a new phase through such incidents, with new scenarios and plans. But what needs to be seen is that in the attacks to come after this point will be that the KDP’s peshmerga and asayish forces will also be involved, and there will be attacks against the guerrilla.