The Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement urging the KDP to not to take part in the attacks of the Turkish state in any way and calling on the Kurdish people to frustrate the attacks by developing national unity.

The KCK statement referred to the occupation operations of the “AKP, MHP, Ergenekon Alliance" on Rojava, the Medya Defense Zones and Southern Kurdistan and said: "At the same time as the air raids on Shengal and Maxmur on June 16, an invasion operation was launched in Heftanin. As a next step, the Turkish state plans to extend the attacks to the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin. However, the historic resistance they have faced in Heftanin did not allow them to advance further. With its increasingly ongoing attacks, the Turkish state reveals its intension to occupy Medya Defense Zones -from Heftanin to Xenere- and strategic mountainous territory in Southern Kurdistan. After achieving this goal and fortifying their presence in the region, they will gradually put into practice their plan to occupy and annex the whole of Southern Kurdistan. Turkey’s annexation of Southern Kurdistan and Rojava will help it overcome all obstacles to its neo-Ottoman dream of expanding to the entire Middle East.”

The statement continued:

“The KDP constantly blames the PKK and the guerrilla for Turkey’s attacks and thus legitimizes and normalizes the aggression of the Turkish state that hits the Kurdish people’s freedom struggle everywhere under the guise of fight against terror. The attacks against the people of Shengal, who were subjected to ISIS onslaught and massacre in 2014, and the people of Maxmur, who were forced to leave their lands by the colonialists, are also legitimized on the same grounds. This discourse is voiced even more loudly after the Turkish offensive on Heftanin.

In the wake of the aggression on Heftanin, a delegation from the Parliament of Southern Kurdistan was formed and sent to the scene. After their return, the delegation prepared a report saying that the Turkish state was attacking and civilian people were suffering damages because of the presence of guerrilla forces, in an attempt to legitimize the Turkish state’s attacks. They have persistently abstained from revealing the Turkish state’s Kurdish enmity and its attacks against the achievements of the Kurds. By claiming that the presence of the guerrilla threatens the status of Southern Kurdistan, they set the stage for the political and social ground of an inter-Kurdish conflict. At the same time, the KDP insists on stationing Peshmerga units in a way so as to hinder the guerrilla's struggle against the Turkish occupation.”

In this context, the KCK referred to the deadly drone attack on August 11 in which guerrilla commander Agit Garzan and two commanders of the Iraqi border guard units were killed in Xinere; "The Turkish state wanted to use the Iraqi border guard units as a shield to capture strategically important locations for the guerrilla. The guerrilla rejected this imposition. During this period, the border guards were bombed by armed drones in Xinere, two Iraqi commanders and guerrilla commander Agit Garzan were martyred.”

According to the KCK, the fact that the KDP persistently blames the PKK after such attacks clearly shows its cooperation with the Turkish state. The statement said: “The Turkish state has presented the KDP its plan for extermination against the PKK and the KDP has been a party to it. In order to legitimize the annihilation plan, they are trying to include Iraq as well. The fact that the KDP wants to restrict the guerrilla's movement by stationing its forces at a time when the Turkish state is expanding its attacks and seeks to occupy a one-kilometer-wide area on the border is connected with this annihilation plan.

The KCK statement continued: "The PKK's attitude has always been open and clear. The Kurdish people have witnessed countless times that the guerrilla is the most sacrificial force when it comes to protecting the Kurdish achievements and protecting the status they have won. When the ISIS attacked, the guerrillas defended Hewlêr [Erbil]. For this the KDP general chairman Masoud Barzani expressed his personal thanks to the guerrilla. He declared that Turkey had not given any support. In doing so he made it clear who is actually against a status for Kurdistan. At the present time, the guerrilla is the most important defense of this status. It is known to everyone who rushed to Kirkuk when ISIS attacked, who saved the Yazidis from a genocide. It was the guerrilla to retreat last from Kirkuk in 2017. In consideration of this truth, nobody can claim that “the guerrilla is threatening our status” nor legitimize the attacks of the Turkish state, which indeed threatens the status and achievements of the Kurds and is a leading force in enmity against the Kurds.”

KCK underlined that: “We do not want any inter-Kurdish conflict by any means. In Zini Werte, peshmergas were deployed at a location that would mean an encirclement of the guerrilla. Three Kurdish fighters were martyred in an airstrike in this area. Despite this, we acted with common sense and abstained from a conflict. However, while the Turkish state wages a genocidal war against our people and attacks the guerrilla zones, the KDP is adopting a stand against us. They subject the guerrilla to an imposition; “either surrender and stop the war against Turkey or our forces will enter your areas”. We wanted to overcome this soft attitude and this situation through talks but the KDP’s attitude after Turkey’s attacks corresponds to a negative response to our positive approach.”

KCK called on all the Kurdish people and patriots to unite with the guerrilla against the attacks of the Turkish state, saying; “Because enmity and attacks against the PKK mean an enmity and attack against all the Kurds. We call on the KDP not to take part in the attacks of the Turkish state in any way that would threaten the free future of the Kurdish people with current narrow interests of the party, to join the efforts for Kurdish unity and to play its role for the protection of all the achievements and status gained in all parts of Kurdistan.”

KCK also called on the patriotic Kurdish people, their political forces, intellectuals and artists to eliminate all threats by achieving national unity and to enhance the struggle for gaining a free and democratic life in all parts of Kurdistan.