PUK official calls for common stance against Turkish occupation

"The parties, especially the PUK and Gorran, which are government partners, should also take a common stance to avoid an undesired civil war among the Kurds. In the contrary case, all parties will pay a huge price.”

Mele Bahtiyar, a member of the High Council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said that democracy and nation formation have not developed in besieged Kurdistan. He called on Kurdish parties to take a common stance to avoid an undesired civil war between the Kurds.

Mele Bahtiyar penned an article titled ‘Open letter on the situation of South Kurdistan and the PKK’. In his article, Bahtiyar called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani and the Kurdistan public to act with national responsibility.

The United Nations Special Representative for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and some political observers pointed out that “alarm bells are ringing for the Kurdistan Region”, said Bahtiyar. He noted that they delivered speeches over the foreign plans on other parts of Kurdistan and disputed regions at a seminar at Sulaymaniyah University on July 13, 2016.

Bahtiyar pointed out that no solution has been found for the dangerous domestic problems for years and cited the contradictions between the KDP and the PYD, the KDP and the PKK, and the ENKS and the PYD in Rojava as examples.

‘TURKEY BEARS 200 YEARS OF HOSTILITY TOWARS KURDS’

“There is no doubt that Turkey is at war with the guerrillas in the North. Turkey bears 200 years of hostility towards the Kurds and is experienced in conspiracy against them,” he said.

The PUK official pointed out that the political-military forces resorted to weapons because they could not solve their problems through political means. “Especially in besieged Kurdistan, the problem of democracy and nation formation has remained unresolved. The enemies thus continue to carry out their plans.”

Bahtiyar recalled that the parliaments of Iraq and Kurdistan sent commissions to the border regions to monitor the situation and prepare reports. He said that the focus should rather be on a solution with national responsibility, than revenge.

Bahtiyar addressed the forces in South Kurdistan, saying, "The parties, especially the PUK and Gorran, which are government partners, should also take a common stance to avoid an undesired civil war among the Kurds. In the contrary case, all parties will pay a huge price.”