Provinces renowned for their natural beauty, Amed, Dersim, Sirnak and Bingol have been under bombardment by the Turkish army from the air and the ground for over a month. Thousands of hectares of land have burned down to date, and fires continue in several locations. State forces are not fighting the fires, and locals who wish to do so are stopped by the police and soldiers each time. HDP Van MP Tayip Temel spoke to the ANF about the war and ecocide in Kurdistan.

Temel said there is an intense war in progress in Kurdistan and that the state is attacking society, the land and all living beings in Kurdistan: “All areas of Kurdistan are under great attacks. There is a total war against the Kurds. Forest fires in Kurdistan are part of this war. When war breaks out in a country, the natural environment is also targeted, and that is the case in Kurdistan.”

BANNED WEAPONS USED IN KURDISTAN

Temel said certain strategic regions are specifically targeted in Kurdistan and stressed that the state wants to depopulate the area through forced migration of the local people. HDP Van MP Temel said several areas were declared out of bounds for “military operations” and forests were set on fire there. Temel added:

“There are two main reasons for the burning of Kurdistan’s forests: First, there is an out of control war in Kurdistan. The Turkish army uses any and all methods to harm Kurdish fighters. They use banned weapons in the region. They also use conventional weapons to harm the natural environment and all living beings. And the second reason is that are burning down Kurdistan as part of policy.”

“WHEN IT COMES TO KURDISTAN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS ARE SILENT”

Temel added that the AKP government is implementing different war policies to depopulate the region: “One of these policies is to force the people in Kurdistan to migrate and to carry out massacres. Another is to burn down forests in Kurdistan. The forest fires in Kurdistan are part of state policy. Environmental institutions in Turkey and the world should speak up and protest this. But when it comes to Kurdistan, all environmental activists turn mute. There is pillaging and ecocide in Kurdistan, and the effects will last a thousand years. This is a crime against nature.”