The Turkish government has suspended the mayors of the Kurdish cities of Amed (Diyarbakir), Mardin and Van, run by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). The democratically elected co-mayors Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı, Ahmet Türk and Bedia Özgökçe Ertan were replaced by governors appointed by the government. Turkish security forces arrested at least 418 activists in 29 provinces in parallel with the dismissal of HDP mayors.

The Executive Council Co-presidency of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement on the seizure of HDP-run municipalities, which were won by over 60% votes in March 31 elections, describing it as a new phase of the fascist AKP-MHP government’s genocidal attack against the Kurdish people. Recalling that governors who nurture enmity towards the Kurds and have no relations with the Kurdish people have been appointed in the place of the removed mayors, KCK said that this attack against elected representatives was a continuation of the political coup carried out on 20 July 2016.

The statement included the following;

“These fascist attacks against democratic forces and the Kurdish people will continue increasing. The attacks on northern and southern Kurdistan, Rojava and northern Syria are being carried out for the same purpose. The goal is to wipe out the Kurds.  

The dismissal of mayors has one single goal; to crush the democratic forces and to complete the Kurdish genocide. Another interpretation of these attacks would be a failure to understand the ambitions of this genocidal, fascist and warmongering regime. Just like the attacks against the Kurds’ existence, identity, political will and desire for freedom and democracy, the attack on municipalities is an aggression on the Kurds’ will to exist. All Kurds who stand up for their identity, culture and freedom are the target of this genocidal system. As long as Turkey does not go through a phase of democratization and the Kurdish issue remains unresolved, these genocidal attacks will have no end.

The latest attack against the people’s will reveals once again the fact that the political system in Turkey is a fascist, genocidal and a special warmongering system.  The elections held every few years in Turkey serve only to cover up the reality of this fascist genocidal system. The democratically elected representatives who do not serve this purpose immediately get intervened.

The arrest of DEP members in 1994, the KCK operation on 14 April 2009, the mass arrests of deputies, mayors and thousands of politicians after the fascist coup of 20 July 2016, and the political coup on 19 August are evidences of this reality.  The Kurdish struggle for democracy and freedom reveals the special warfare of the colonial system in all its nakedness.

Through their struggle, the Kurds and democratic forces will further expose the reality of the fascist special war. However, to be under the illusion that there is democracy in Turkey and that problems could be resolved on this basis, would be the greatest harm to be done to the struggle for democracy. There is a genocidal and colonialist fascist government in Turkey. Only an all-out struggle against such a government will help to democratize Turkey and resolve the Kurdish question. In this scope, the guerrilla struggle and uprisings are the most basic methods of struggle against fascism. If a multifaceted struggle is to be given to defeat fascism, the Kurdish people and the peoples of Turkey, youth and women in the first place, should turn the streets, squares, mountains and plains into areas of struggle.

There is neither democracy nor freedoms in Turkey. To pretend that there is democracy in Turkey would weaken the struggle for democracy and freedom and serve the enemies of democracy. In this regard, the struggle for democracy and freedom cannot be confined to legal boundaries and the existing political environment. The struggle must be enhanced everywhere, including the guerrilla and uprisings. The Kurdish youth should give the necessary response to the fascist government that imprisons every single person who defends Kurdishness.

All these attacks are aimed at crushing the Kurdish people’s will to lead a free life. In response to this genocidal policy, the Kurdish people and youth should take to the squares of freedom and enhance the freedom struggle.

All Kurdish parties, movements and forces, regardless of their political views, should act together and oppose this form of genocidal colonialism, which ignores the political will of the Kurds. Because these attacks are not only directed against the HDP, but against the entire Kurdish people. Beyond being a political attack, they are part of the genocidal policy against the Kurds.

Therefore, every Kurd who has committed himself to defending the existence of his people should stand up as a requirement of patriotic existence against this attack and, together with all Kurdish forces, defend the political will of the Kurds.

The target of this attack by the AKP-MHP fascism is not only the political will of the Kurdish people in northern Kurdistan, as it is a part of the genocidal aggression against the Kurds in South, North, East Kurdistan and all around the world. It is an attack that aims for a genocide in all parts of Kurdistan. As long as the Kurds do not rise against the extermination campaign everywhere, the next target will be other political forces and achievements of the Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan. With the awareness of this reality, all Kurdish political parties, especially the political parties in South Kurdistan, should manifest a common stance against these attacks.

In addition to the political will of the Kurdish people, this attack also targets the democratic forces of Turkey. The reactionary resistance to the democratization of Turkey, just to prevent Kurds from benefiting from it, does not tolerate the democratic aspirations of other circles either. In view of this, we call on all democratic forces and institutions, and all those who call themselves democrats, to stand against the fascist AKP MHP government in order to achieve a true democracy and to take a truly democratic stance.

All international political institutions, parties and the international community, which remain silent on this attack, will make themselves accomplices to these attacks. We urge organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union, all political forces and powers that see themselves as democrats, to clearly express their views on the attack against the political will of the Kurdish people.

The Kurdish people and the democratic forces in the Middle East face a serious attack. We therefore urge our people in all parts of Kurdistan and abroad to defend themselves against these attacks and to increase the fight everywhere.”