HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) Şırnak MPs Aycan İrmez, Faysal Sarıyıldız, Ferhat Encü and Leyla Birlik issued a written statement on the video shot by Turkish soldiers involved in the genocidal attacks where they say “You will see the might of the Turk”.

The statement is as follows:

“The AKP has lost the quality of coming to power alone after the elections of June 7, 2015 and the AKP and Erdoğan government have been trying to camouflage the legitimacy crisis they experienced with feeding the nationalist and racist hysteria and wreaking havoc in the Kurdish lands. Paramilitary elements and counter-guerilla forces within the TAF laid waste to civilian places of residence in the Kurdish lands, hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, and thousands have lost their lives. Severe human rights violations occurred during the months-long blockade and curfews. These violations have been included in reports by international institutions and the United Nations (UN) and were displayed for all to see again in a video circulating on social media yesterday.

The massacres, destruction, looting and pillaging operations launched under the guise of the curfews have created new traumas in the collective memory. Şırnak is one of the cities most affected by this demolition operation the TAF and the forces within the TAF have taken on in the Kurdish lands. Şırnak wasn’t only burned and destroyed in 2015 - the city had suffered the same burnings and demolitions, civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings during the 1990s in similar military operations. In the Şırnak city center, which has 12 neighborhoods, 8 neighborhoods have been burned and destroyed with tanks and artilleries first, then the ruins have been looted and pillaged under state supervision. The point the AKP and Erdoğan have dragged Turkey to is one where cities are destroyed by tank and artillery fire and the destruction is presented with pride.

“SIGN OF WEAKNESS AND DEFEAT”

The footage presented with pride as ‘the might of the Turk’ in the destruction of the Şırnak city center are images of racism and fascism. These images which have been seen before in other examples of colonialist regimes, are the crystallized version of Erdoğan’s and the TAF’s policies against the Kurds. The downward spiral of violence these destructive policies against the Kurdish society and the Kurdish lands pull Turkey into will bring about the end of the perpetrators of this destruction. Ancient and recent history are filled with examples that show and confirm this.

The presenting of the destruction in Şırnak as a glorious feat accompanied with racist hysteria and chants of fascism is clearly a sign of weakness and defeat. Erdoğan and the AKP government have lost all legitimacy and presence in the Kurdish lands, and they have lost their international legitimacy in trampling the laws of war and the principles of universal human rights. This footage that has apparently been taken by state forces in Şırnak are reminiscent of invaded territory, occupied through barbarism and held on to by force, rather than lands within the borders of Turkey.

Those responsible for the severe right to life violations and the destruction of civilian places of residence in the Kurdish lands, and in Şırnak in particular, will certainly answer for them in front of the law and history.”