A delegation from North Kurdistan continues its talks in Moscow where it attended the International Kurdish Conference earlier this week.

The delegation, composed of DTK co-chair Selma Irmak, HDP Foreign Affairs representative Nazmi Gür and Diyarbakır (Amed) co-mayor Fırat Anlı, held a meeting with Liberal Democratic Party MPs and officials from the Middle East Research Institute today.

The meeting with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia was held in the party’s office in the parliament and attended by MPs Şerin Aleksandır Mikolayeviç and Zaloçevski Vitali. Speaking on behalf of the party, Zalochevski Vitali said the chair of the Liberal Party, Vlademir Jirinoski, is closely following the Kurdish question and works for developing strong ties with the Kurds. Vitali said he is very sad about the recent developments in North Kurdistan and that believes that the Kurds are strong and brave enough to deal with these problems. “Kurds and Russians are very similar to each other in many aspects. Both people are fond of their freedom. And historically Russians have always tried to have strong ties with the Kurds and we hope our relations will get stronger through the recent Russian intervention in the Middle East”, said Vitali.

'KURDS WANT TO GOVERN THEMSELVES'

Speaking after, Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Selma Irmak said they also follow the works of the Liberal Party closely and are well informed that the chair of the party Vlademir Jirinoski is closely interested in the Kurdish question.

“We, the Kurds want to strengthen our diplomatic ties to a further extend. The Kurdish people want to take the decisions concerning them by themselves; they want to be governed by not others but themselves” said Irmak, adding that this was also one of the reasons for the foundation of the DTK.

“DTK is a platform and a mechanism of self-governance that unites all segments of society and functions as an umbrella under which different ethnic groups and faith minorities can discuss their problems under their own representation”, said Irmak.

DTK Co-chair stressed that the HDP on the other hand is a political party under which different identities, Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, etc. unite. “HDP is a party of Turkey; it is the democratic face of Turkey. This is why the HDP project has been embraced and welcomed by the society”, she added.

MEETING WITH EXECUTIVES OF THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE

The delegation of HDP-DTK then held a meeting for about an hour with the executives of the Middle East Institute, which was represented by Nikolay Plantikov and Turkish-Kurdish department specialist Kril Vartiev in addition to some other researchers at the Institute.

Speaking here, Nikolay Plantinov said they would be happy to work together with the DTK and the HDP, as well as to enhance and strengthen the department of Kurdish studies under the Institute and give training to the Kurds.

“Kurds have proved themselves in the Middle East in recent times. Kurds are achieving a major success in not only military aspect, but also many other fields. The Democratic Confederalism system you are trying to build especially attracts our attention and we carry out researches about that subject as well. Our interest in the issue is growing each day”, said Plantinov.

The delegation from North Kurdistan will continue its visits in Moscow today as well.