The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released a comprehensive analysis titled "New Turkish threat, same old war".

We publish some excerpts from part two of the analysis. Part one can be read here.

The KNK said that "in November and December 2023, in a quest to resist such colonial occupation, PKK guerrillas pushed back against Turkey and its mercenaries, inflicting heavy losses on the Turkish military. Since international law has failed to restrain illegal Turkish aggression, the Kurds themselves are left with no choice but to use armed resistance to protect their homeland. International law forbids Turkey to invade a foreign territory and build military bases there without permission, but it systematically does so anyway in Iraq. Therefore, the question of why the PKK continues to resist is a rhetorical one - it is fully within its legal rights.

Regardless of whatever short-term objective Erdoğan has in mind for his aggression, his true intention is clearly to fulfill the dream of the 1920 Misak-ı Millî (National Pact), or the dream of restoring former Ottoman lands. The first step entails occupying Iraq and Syria. But the Turkish occupation plan will not succeed, as northern Iraq and Syria are historically Kurdish majority areas, Furthermore, in the case of Iraq, the Zagros Mountains are protected and patrolled by the PKK, for which Baghdad should be grateful."

The KNK underlined that "thanks to the ideas of PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurds have today achieved a standard of freedom that can be seen not only regionally but also internationally. The PKK has provided a democratic alternative for the world, which is currently plagued by nationalism, sexism, religious fanaticism, and environmental devastation. That is one reason why it is impossible today to defeat the PKK on a social, political, and military level.

Turkey’s failure to resolve the Kurdish question, it is clear, will drive the country to bankruptcy. Ankara can either democratize its Republic or have it collapse. For their part, nations of the world should refuse to be accomplices to Turkey’s refusal of reality, its belief that it can “kill its way” out of Kurds’ demands for their inalienable human rights. If the West does not stop coddling Erdoğan and Fidan, his de facto war minister who pretends to be a diplomatic statesman, then Iraq and Syria will suffer further Turkish invasions, war crimes, and instability. Surely the Kurds and others in the region deserve better, after all the traumas they have suffered."

A better alternative, said the KNK, "is to pressure Turkey to negotiate with the PKK to finally resolve the Kurdish question. Unraveling this Gordian Knot could transform the forty-year-old Turkish-Kurdish armed conflict into a potential peace process. The Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan proved this in 2013-15, when he took part in negotiations with the Turkish state after announcing a unilateral ceasefire. But achieving this solution will require Western states to speak out against Turkey’s war plans, which could engulf the entire region. The Hamas-Israel conflict already has the region on the precipice, and a Turkish occupation or attempted annexation of northern Iraq and northern Syria could push all states on the ground - the United States, Russia, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and their Arab neighbors - to the brink of a third world war."

The KNK said that "even though Erdoğan considers international law to be illegitimate, the rest of us should not. Occupying the territory of a sovereign state cannot be justified, even if an armed group that is resisting your genocidal policies resides there. Therefore, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Council of Europe must take immediate measures to prevent further bloodshed. Let the sound of dialogue replace that of exploding bombs."