The Executive Council Co-Presidency of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement regarding the increasingly ongoing attacks of the KDP against guerrilla forces in southern Kurdistan, northern Iraq.

The statement released on Monday includes the following:

“The KDP recently attacked a group of seven guerrilla fighters who were on their way to a guerrilla-controlled area. Only a few weeks earlier, it had ambushed and attacked a group of three guerrillas. Regarding the fate of these three guerrilla fighters, the KDP has not yet issued a statement. The HPG has issued an official statement saying that the seven guerrilla fighters were martyred. Due to the KDP's encirclement of the guerrilla areas, seven guerrilla fighters resisting in the Zendura area in Metina region were also killed by the occupation forces. This stance by the KDP makes it clear that it is actively participating in the war against the guerrilla alongside the Turkish state.

In response to the recent HPG statement, the KDP took responsibility for the attack by asking what the guerrilla was doing in the Xelifan area. Since spring 2020, the KDP has been conducting an operation to surround guerrilla areas. By cutting off all communication routes, it is attempting to isolate the guerrilla`s various areas from each other and thus narrow its range of movement. By asking what the guerrilla was doing in Xelifan, the KDP has now admitted that it is taking steps to
surround the guerrilla forces and cut off communications between the various guerrilla units. The ambush targeting the three-member guerrilla group and the attack on the seven members of the guerrilla in the same area are the result of this operation to prevent guerrilla movement. By asking what the guerrilla was doing in Xelifan, the KDP is trying to legitimize its attacks on the guerrilla. This reveals that guerrilla areas will continue to be surrounded and attacks on the guerrilla`s moving units will take place in the future, supporting the Turkish state's extermination attacks against the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

In its most recent statement, the HPG stressed that it had so far done its utmost to avoid the fighting provoked by the KDP. At the same time, the HPG stated that the KDP had resorted to unilateral attacks because its war plans had been thwarted by the guerrilla`s restraint. The HPG
stated, that it would leave the KDP's stance to the judgment of the conscience and sense of justice of the Kurdish people. It has thus called on the Kurdish people and the Kurdish public to take action against the KDP's stance.

For the past four and a half months, the guerrilla has been resisting against the occupation attacks of the Turkish state in the interest of the entire Kurdish people. The Turkish state now finds itself in a deadlock in the areas it has invaded. In order to escape from this miserable situation, the Turkish state - the driving engine behind the genocidal, colonialist Kurdish hostility - attacks Şengal, Maxmur, Pencevin, Şehrazor and Rojava. Dozens of Kurds were killed and injured in these attacks. The Turkish state uses chemical weapons during its occupation attacks and attacks everywhere in Kurdistan. At the same time, the KDP is stepping up its encirclement operation and attacks on the guerrilla. These attacks clearly serve to give air to the Turkish state and support its occupation attacks. They mean becoming a part of the concept that aims at crushing the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

This attitude of the KDP encourages the Turkish state to carry out its attacks on Sinjar, Pencevin, Maxmur and Rojava. It considers the KDP's attacks as a basis for legitimizing and intensifying its own attacks. Turkish state officials talk openly about their attacks on the Avaşin, Zap, and Metina regions taking place in coordination with other forces. Meanwhile, the KDP's relations with the Turkish state and their joint attacks on the PKK that are taking place in this context are harming the entire Kurdish people, the struggle of the people in all four parts of Kurdistan and all their achievements. The policy of the KDP is leading to results that will weaken all Kurds. The longer this policy continues, the greater the damage will be and the more the Kurdish people will be
weakened.

The Kurdish Freedom Movement and the guerrilla are aware that confrontations with the KDP will massively damage the freedom struggle and the future of the Kurdish people. They have therefore done their utmost to avoid such a situation. It has now become apparent that the KDP sees this responsible attitude as a weakness and thus attacks the guerrilla. If this is not prevented in the future, the danger will increase that the Kurds will not succeed in gaining an influential role in the newly emerging balances that are currently being created in the Middle East - just as they failed to do at the beginning of the 20th century. The genocidal, colonialist Turkish state is attacking everywhere in this political phase to prevent the Kurds from gaining strength and achieving a permanent status. It focusses all its policies and diplomatic relations on preventing the Kurds from gaining strength and on achieving its goal of a full-scale Kurdish genocide in the 21st century.

The Kurdish people and the Kurdish public must take a clear stance against this situation, which has direct consequences for the Kurdish existence, future and the Kurds` free and democratic life. If no stance is taken against the KDP policy on the grounds that it is a Kurdish organization with political control over a certain area, unfortunate developments will occur. Against the KDP's relations with Turkey, its anti-PKK stance based on these relations and the attacks on the guerrilla, the political parties in all four parts of Kurdistan must clearly express their patriotic stance. Any developments that lead to the weakening of the Kurds` political force will weaken all political forces in the four parts of Kurdistan.

The KDP is attacking the guerrilla and supporting the Turkish state's annihilation attacks against the PKK. It is the historical responsibility and duty of the Kurdish people and all moral intellectuals and artists to take action to prevent developments that would massively harm the existence and future of the Kurds.

The entire Kurdish people and the Kurdish public must know that the KDP is provoking clashes and creating the basis for them through its policies, its encirclement of the guerrilla areas and its attacks. Pressure is being exerted to force our movement to surrender and give up its struggle against the genocidal and colonialist Turkish state. Despite the patient and responsible behavior of our Freedom Movement and the guerrilla, the KDP has not ceased this policy and attitude so far.
Therefore, the bare facts must now finally be recognized.

We are firmly convinced that the Kurdish people, the Kurdish intellectuals and artists and the Kurdish political forces will prevent any policy and attitude that endangers the existence and future of the Kurdish people. They will do so on the basis of the deep patriotic consciousness developed by the Kurdish people in the course of their struggle, which has lasted for a hundred years, and their awareness of the character of the Kurds` enemies."