The Co-Presidency of KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council released a statement on KDP’s attacks on guerrilla zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq), calling on the Kurdish people, Kurdish intellectuals, writers, artists and all Kurdish political forces to live up to their patriotic responsibility and to prevent the KDP from taking steps that would lead to a war against the guerrilla.

The KCK statement published on Saturday includes the following:

For 100 days, the attacks of the Turkish state on the Medya Defense Zones have been going on. The guerrilla resists against these attacks, which are carried out by the second largest NATO army using all possible means, with a superhuman willpower. Thus, it has been causing the Turkish army the greatest difficulties for months. Its resistance is the resistance of the entire Kurdish people and all the peoples of the Middle East. It is a resistance against genocide and for the existence of the Kurdish people. This is the greatest struggle for their own dignity that has taken place in the history of the Kurdish people so far.

While the guerrilla resists against the occupation and genocidal attacks, the KDP forces surround guerrilla areas, push like a wedge between the guerrilla forces and thereby try to break their contact with each other. This provides relief to the Turkish army and supports its occupation operation. Although the Kurdish people and the Kurdish public have protested strongly against these measures, the KDP is thus openly declaring war on the guerrilla. If the KDP had not distracted the guerrillasin such a way and had not hindered it from waging an effective war, the Turkish state would have already suffered a heavy defeat similar to its previous operations against the guerrilla and would have retreated.

KDP military forces began a military operation in the Çemço area on July 29 of this year to interrupt contact between guerrilla forces in the Zap and Avaşin regions. Despite warnings from the guerrilla that this move would lead to armed conflict, KDP military forces insisted on entering the guerrilla areas. Consequently, brief military tensions ensued, whose escalation was prevented by the intervention of the local population. The KDP forces subsequently withdrew, but their deployment of troops in close proximity to guerrilla areas continues. We appreciate that the local population has opposed the KDP’s military forces entering guerrilla areas by force of arms. At the same time, this stance by the population constitutes a call to the KDP to refrain from its current policy.

In addition to this military operation, which amounts to an open declaration of war against the guerrilla areas, one of our mobile guerrilla units was also surrounded. Apparently, this guerrilla unit was attacked, causing some of its members to fall as martyrs and some others to be captured while injured. These attacks by the KDP on the guerrilla illustrate its intention to now turn its previous support for Turkey into open warfare. These moves will have very negative consequences for the future of the Kurdish people and will open the door to the occupation and genocide policies of the Turkish state – the leading force of hostility against the Kurds. We expect the KDP to recognize this danger and refrain from these steps.

During a phase of intense Turkish attacks, the guerrilla is being surrounded, deprived of the air it needs to breathe, and its hands and feet are being tied. The KDP tries to legitimize its position with the completely false statement that it is the government and will accordingly infiltrate everywhere. This attitude is tantamount to saying that they will enter the guerrilla positions and, together with the Turkish army, drive the guerrilla out of its areas. So it means waging a war against the guerrilla together with the Turkish army. There is no justification for this at all. The Turkish army has been trying to enter these areas for 40 years. But it has not reached its goal so far because of the guerrilla resistance. The entire Kurdish people know only too well what kind of defeat the Turkish army suffered in the Zap region in South Kurdistan in 2007. There is no justification for trying to advance in areas where KDP military forces have not been present for 30 to 40 years, while at the same time the Turkish state has begun new attacks. The Kurdish people and their political forces cannot accept this under any circumstances.

The guerrilla has been waging a war against the genocidal and colonialist Turkish army in all areas of the mountains of Kurdistan for 40 years. The KDP’s statement that the guerrilla cannot use part of these mountains for their war means opposing the guerrilla’s use of the geographical possibilities of Kurdistan in its entirety – which is just what the Turkish State opposes. By insisting on entering all areas, it is trying to force the guerrilla to give up areas where it has been fighting for 40 years and where thousands of their members have become martyrs. This demand means to behave according to the wishes of the Turkish state and to prevent the guerrilla from its war against the Turkish state. The guerrilla does not conduct its struggle for the freedom of the Kurdish people in the style of a classical army, but uses all areas of Kurdistan. The fact that the KDP is advancing into areas that have been controlled by the guerrilla for 40 years, while the guerrilla is at war with Turkey, is incompatible with Kurdish patriotic values. This attitude paves the way for the occupation and genocide in South Kurdistan. Thus, it represents a grave historical mistake. While the Turkish state openly claims Mosul and Kirkuk for itself, your own achievements cannot be defended by fighting the PKK alongside Turkey. On the contrary, the current attitude of the KDP puts the achievements of the Kurdish people in great danger. The Turkish state’s policy and strategy of occupying the whole of Kurdistan and turning it into a settlement area for the Turkish nation can only be prevented based on the unity and struggle of the Kurdish people.

The occupation and genocide policy of the Turkish state is a danger for all of Kurdistan. It will only come to an end through a democratic solution of the Kurdish question in North Kurdistan. All achievements in South Kurdistan and Rojava can be defended through the solution of the Kurdish question in North Kurdistan. Only through the solution of the Kurdish question in that part of Kurdistan will it be possible to achieve that the Turkish state abandons its anti-Kurdish policy in all parts of Kurdistan and establishes equal and friendly relations with the Kurdish people.

The KDP legitimizes its attacks by claiming that the PKK does not recognize the government of South Kurdistan and endangers the status of the region. At the same time, everyone is aware that it was the PKK and the guerrilla who first took action against the attacks on South Kurdistan and made great sacrifices to defend the South Kurdish achievements. The people and the political forces of South Kurdistan know best that the Turkish state is attacking all the achievements of the Kurds and is the biggest danger for them. To hide this fact and instead claim that the guerrilla is putting the achievements in danger means to legitimize the Turkish attacks. Thus, the Turkish state can hide its hostile attitude by spreading its demagogy and lies of not being against all Kurds, but against the PKK.

The Turkish state denies the existence of the Kurds, is the driving force behind Kurdish hostility and pursues the goal of committing a genocide against the Kurdish people. All Kurdish political forces that want to defend the freedom and all the achievements of the Kurdish people must therefore make it clear to the Turkish state that it must officially abandon its policy of denial and recognize all the rights of the Kurds to live freely and democratically if it is interested in solving its problems with the Kurdish people. The Kurdish uprisings in 1925, 1930 and 1938 were the result of this policy of denial and annihilation. The resistance of the PKK and the guerrilla are also a reaction to this policy. It must be made clear to the Turkish state that all these problems will not continue if the Kurdish question is solved. The Kurdish political forces must pressure the Turkish state in this way in order to find a solution. Asking the PKK to leave certain areas or to refrain from activities in response to the pressure of the Turkish state allows the Turkish state to insist on the continuation of its current policy. Therefore, the Kurdish political forces must call on the Turkish state to solve the Kurdish question on a democratic basis and at the same time mobilize all their international contacts for this purpose.

If the KDP gives in to the pressure of the Turkish state and consequently threatens to infiltrate into all areas, to surround the guerrilla and to cut off its supply of food and ammunition, instead of demanding from the Turkish state to solve the Kurdish question and thus to put an end to all resulting problems; then this clearly means declaring war on the guerrilla and breaking its current selflessly led resistance.

We call on the KDP to refrain from enforcing a war against the guerrilla, to withdraw its military forces from the surrounding areas of the guerrilla and to make efforts for a democratic solution of the Kurdish question in North Kurdistan.

We call on the Kurdish people, Kurdish intellectuals, writers, artists and all Kurdish political forces to live up to their patriotic responsibility and to prevent the KDP from taking steps that would lead to a war against the guerrilla."