KNK: Detention of mayors an attack on Kurdish democratic self-rule

Kurdistan National Congress described the detention of Kurdish mayors as an attack on Kurdish democratic self-rule.

The Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released a statement strongly condemning the detention of Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, Co-Mayors of the mainly Kurdish Amed city.

KNK stated that: "It has been a long time that the AKP government (R.T. Erdogan), epitomising the Turkish state and the classic politics of the Turkish Republic, has launched a multifaceted attack on Kurdistan. Bombardment of Kurdish cities and villages, mass arrest of Kurdish politicians and massacre of civilians have reached an unprecedented level.

Despite military attacks, the Turkish government has extended its operation against the legal institutions that have been staffed by democratically elected Kurdish representatives. This is obviously an indication of the violation of the Kurdistan peoples’ will and wishes. The Turkish authorities have occupied Kurdistan’s municipalities, arrested some Kurdish mayors, and appointed their own officials in their places."

According to KNK, what all this show is the fact that the Turkish Republic’s treatment of the Kurds has gone beyond threat, setting as its target the eradication of the Kurdish liberation movement.

KNK stressed that Amed (Diyarbakir) is the capital of Kurdistan and its co-mayors stand as symbols of the Kurdish democratic self-rule and the willpower of the Kurdistan peoples.

"It is well evident that the Turkish state now plans to extend its operations to Kurdish municipalities, putting to arrest as many Kurdish mayors as possible. The intention behind this is to impose capitulation on the Kurdish people. But the Kurdish people and their friends will not accept this; how should they stay silent in the face of their elected representatives being illegally put to prison? Despite all this, the Turkish state has increasingly expanded its operations to both West (Syria-Kurdistan) and South Kurdistan (Iraq-Kurdistan)."

The Kurdistan National Congress strongly condemned the feckless policies of the Turkish state and the hostile acts of the AKP government, and urged an immediate release of all Kurdish co-mayors and other political prisoners.

KNK called upon all democratic organisations, political parties, the forces of peace, international institutions and parliaments (the EU, the EC, and the UN): to not stay silent in the face of these unlawful attacks, and to not accept the immensely unlawful measures currently being implemented in Turkey.