Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) Co-chair İlham Ehmed visited the Kirkuk Tevgera Azadi Provincial Branch Co-presidency yesterday at noon. Ehmed also visited the PKK Southern Kurdistan Martyrs’ Families institution and then moved to the Taqtaq sub-district and gave a seminar on Rojava to the people of Taqtaq and the migrants from Rojava.

Ehmed mentioned the Turkish state’s invasion of Southern Kurdistan, citing PKK as an excuse, and said: “The target is not just PKK, but destroying all Kurdish gains in all parts including the South. Whereas, in Southern Kurdistan, thousands of peshmerge have shed their blood and fallen martyr for the freedom of their people.”

She  pointed out that the only way to stop these attacks is through a national congress and said all Kurdish parties need to take necessary responsibility.

MSD Co-chair also spoke on the latest situation in Syria and said that the regime perceived the problem in Syria as an externally imposed problem from the beginning, and made it look like the people didn’t have any complaints with the regime. Ehmed continued: “But the people rose up because the regime didn’t accept the social will. Then other terrorist groups used this for themselves. Their demand for change was less a regime change and more a change in who holds the power. In that sense, those organizations don’t have a project either. Thus they started fighting among themselves. But from the start, we had a project. We didn’t take fighting anyone as a basis. We just wanted to defend ourselves. But the groups we would cooperate with would need to recognize the rights of the Kurds first. The regime had a similar approach, they issued a law and said they were giving the Kurds an identity.”

“THEY WANT TO DISSOLVE THE NORTHERN SYRIA FEDERATION”

İlham Ehmed spoke of Turkey’s plans for Rojava and said their true target is the Northern Syria Federation.

Ehmed said: “The only goal of the Turkish state is to remove the Kurds’ gains. They criticise the US constantly for allying with the YPG. They are trying all they can to have PYD and YPG added to terror lists. They started to attack Rojava as well. For example, the goal of the attacks on Shehba was to target Efrîn from there. But despite all their might, and the local groups they had supporting them, they experienced a great defeat. They turned towards Bab when that didn’t work out. Their goal was to stop Efrîn and Kobanê from joining. For some time now, they have been attacking Bab but they don’t have a result. They say they will take Bab and Efrîn. Several days ago, they attacked Rojava Çılaxa with two helicopters. If nobody says anything to them crossing there like this, they will come again. They use ISIS as an excuse. But what they are actually attacking and trying to dissolve is the Northern Syria Federation itself.”

“THE UN SHOULD OFFER EQUAL AID”

Sub-district director Remik Ramazan Kadir who welcomed İlham Ehmed and the committee with an official ceremony spoke to our agency and said they were very pleased with Ehmed’s visit. Kadir said there were many migrants from Rojava in their sub-district and that they were trying to provide support as best they could.

Kadir said there were Iraqi migrants as well as Rojavans in the sub-district and that the UN provided aid for the Iraqi migrants, rather than Rojavan migrants. Kadir was critical of this and said “They should offer equal aid for migrants from both places.”