Nine people were killed and at least 22 injured when the Turkish state bombed a picnic site in the village of Perex in the Zakho district of southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) on 20 July. The victims include one-year-old Zahra and twelve-year-old Sara. Seven of them had come to Zakho from Baghdad for holidays, two men came from Karbala.

Democratic Union Party (PYD) Co-chair Salih Muslim spoke to ANF about the Turkish massacre of civilians in Zakho.

A Turkish attack on a touristic resort in Zakho claimed the lives of 9 people and left 22 others injured. How would you interpret the attack?

The attack in Zakho is not the first action of Turkish fascism. It is not the first, and it seems that it won’t be the last. Turkish fascism wishes for the depopulation of Kurdistan. They have done it before in Bakur (North), Bashur (South), Rojava (West) and in several places in Kurdistan. They want to root out the Kurds and other peoples to depopulate territories and thus gain room for themselves to run wild as they wish. This was not an extraordinary incident but a planned attack, just like all other attacks they conduct everywhere else, including in Bakur, Rojava and Bashur. And they do it quite brutally. They respect neither moral norms nor international laws. No one has told them to ‘stop’ so far. Everyone remains silent. The claim that ‘I can do as they wish’ for all to see, is a challenge to the whole world and the Kurds. He does not find anyone standing in his way, and therefore, does what he wants. He could do even more, should he continue to face no intervention, I believe.

How would you comment on the attack coming after the tripartite summit in Tehran and Turkey’s insistence on another invasion campaign against Rojava?

There is no side to defend the Kurds at the meeting in Tehran. There are only three sides, all of which seek profits and do not give a thought about the Kurds and Kurdistan. For this reason, nobody said anything to Turkey. It might be that Rojava or Bashur are talked about, but they take decisions as they want, since there is no one to defend the Kurds. They cannot tell Turkey to ‘stop’ or anything else as long as there is no one there to speak for the Kurds and their achievements. For this very reason, Turkey does as it wishes and gets away with its actions as there is no voice raised against it.

While the attack met with reactions from the region and the whole world, the KDP stated that the attack was caused by the “conflict with the PKK”. KDP-affiliated media reported the Turkish ministry’s remarks about ‘defence’. How should the KDP’s attempts to justify the attack be evaluated?

KDP-affiliated forces are involved in this filth. It is not something new. In a great many massacres, attacks and the war ongoing there, they have taken sides with the Turkish state. They somehow want to conceal it and they publish the declarations of the Turkish state and stand by them to cover up their own crimes someway. It is clear who carried out the attack, as they already have military points and outposts close to the scene, and fires were shot from those outposts. If the investigation deepens, it will reveal why those outposts are there and with whose approval. They built outposts there and raised their military forces. All these issues are to be investigated. A true investigation would bring out into the open who those responsible are, as well as the wrongs of the KDP forces. That is why they cover the issue up, to make sure that their own tricks and previous doings do not come into view.

Still, the Kurdish people are well aware of things now, especially those in Bashur. They will not fall for such things anymore. It is blatantly obvious who is to blame and who has done what. I mean, they are making an effort to legitimize such things to cover up their own crimes, revealing their own lies with excuses such as ‘caused by the conflict’. This will not last though. The Iraqi government and even the foreign minister (KDP) cannot cover it up. Everyone sees who is doing what. For this reason, all their efforts are in vain.

What awaits Kurdistan and the Middle East if the Turkish state, which has a huge criminal record of massacres, is not stopped?

Turkish fascism speaks of the Ottoman Empire and the annexation of former terrain, as if it was a legitimate act. They speak of the invasion of northern Syria and the uprooting of the Kurds from their lands. Why the Kurds? It is not a matter of the Kurds alone. When we look at its history, the Turkish state as a republic is built on the skulls of other nations; massacres of Armenians, Syriacs, Greeks… Now, they want to finish off the Kurds. They are set to destroy all those who happen to confront them and defend their country and existence.

We talk about Hitler but with these ideas and actions, they even exceed Hitler. Turkey constitutes a danger not only to its own people but to the whole world, considering the unspoken issues of the Aegean, the Black Sea, Armenia, Azerbaijan etc. Indeed, they pose a threat in many parts of the world. I think it is NATO’s part now. NATO should finally tell Turkey to ‘stop’. Turkey is attacking the entire world with NATO power and NATO should now stop this at least. Otherwise, the whole world is on the verge of a great danger because of Erdoğan’s actions.