KCK Executive Council Co-President Cemil Bayık spoke to Michael Völker from the leading Austrian newspaper, Der Standard, about the resistance in Kobanê.

Cemil Bayık said the struggle against ISIS has propelled the Kurdish question onto the international stage, adding: “The Kurds are a key force in the Middle East. If the Kurds do not take part, or are not included, problems in the Middle East cannot be resolved. In order for the Middle East to be reshaped there needs to be a resolution of the Kurdish question.”

Bayık said the conflict in Kobanê had intensified due to Turkish support for the ISIS gangs. He said Turkish special forces were working with the ISIS terrorists, adding: “There is now an autonomous region in South Kurdistan and there is Rojava. Then there is Turkey and it must recognise a status for the Kurds, but instead of doing this it is trying to prevent this and destroy the institutions developed in Rojava by using ISIS. Turkey wants to strengthen its influence in the Middle East by using ISIS and sacrificing the Kurds in the process.”

Bayık continued: “Everyone thought Kobanê would fall in a week and that the Kurds would be driven out and slaughtered, but it didn’t happen. The resistance is strong. We will not abandon Kobanê!”

The resistance and international pressure was effective in Turkey’s change of tactics

Bayık responded to the Der Standard reporter’s comment that, ‘Turkey allowed the peshmerga to cross into Kobanê,’ saying that both the resistance in Kobanê and international pressure had resulted in a change of tactics. Bayık added that at the beginning Erdoğan had wanted the international coalition to wage a struggle against the YPG and PKK as well as against ISIS, but that the Americans had not accepted this and supported the YPG, resulting in a change in Turkey’s tactics.

Arms aid a defeat for Turkish diplomacy

Cemil Bayık recalled that the US had sent arms to the YPG forces, signifying a defeat for Turkish diplomacy. He added: “There are great differences between the aims of the US and Europe and those of Turkey. While the West wants to combat ISIS, Turkey is supporting it against the Kurds.”

We greet the peshmerga’s support

Bayık said Turkey had seen that with the attacks on Kobanê, the Kurds had got stronger and was hoping that problems would emerge with the presence of the peshmerga in Kobanê, adding that there was no problem of confidence regarding the peshmerga: “our forces have fought side by side on many fronts, which has created a positive feeling amongst our people. We therefore greet the peshmerga support for the resistance in Kobanê.”

Bayık added that ISIS had benefited the Kurds in that it had brought them closer together and that Turkish attempts to use the peshmerga against the YPG would not work.

To sell women is to sell humanity

Cemil Bayık said ISIS was an inhuman organisation, condemning its selling of women. Bayık continued, saying: “In Kobanê we are waging a struggle for humanity. ISIS is anti-humanity and anti-women. To sell women is to sell humanity. To enslave women is to enslave humanity.”

Bayık added that ISIS was not just occupying certain areas, but also carrying out ethnic cleansing, as it did to the Yezidi Kurds in Sinjar and the Christians around Mosul. He said they were attempting the same thing in Kobanê.

Bayık stressed that: “We will not allow this to happen. The fate of Kobanê will also be the fate of ISIS, but we should not forget that Turkey opened the gates to Kobanê for ISIS.”

Erdoğan’s policy taking Turkey towards isolation and civil war

Cemil Bayık said the resolution process in North Kurdistan could not be taken separately from  Kobanê, adding that it would be naïve to expect the AKP, which supports ISIS, to develop a peace policy. Bayık said: “The Kurds have risen up in all regions. This resistance is a struggle for humanity, fraternity and multi-culturalism. Erdoğan’s policy is taking Turkey towards isolation and civil war.”

Bayık stressed that Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan was keeping the peace process on track by his unilateral efforts, despite all adversity. He added that the AKP was making empty promises, trying to gain time in order to destroy the PKK. “Turkey is intolerant of resistance. It is responding harshly to criticism from journalists and popular protest. And the AKP is attempting to take over the entire state apparatus,” he said.

There is a limit to unilateral efforts

Bayık said that the process of resolution was at a critical stage, and that Turkey was not ready to take the necessary steps. He warned that while they did not intend to fight Turkey again, “there is a limit to unilateral efforts”. He added that if attacks on the people continued, the guerrillas would take action, saying that the world knew that they wanted a peaceful solution after they declared a ceasefire at Newroz in 2013. “If Turkey leaves us with no alternative we will defend ourselves,” said Bayık, who added that to wait too long while Turkey played a delaying game would be ‘surrender’, something they could not accept.

Bayık said: “In Kobanê a new freedom movement is emerging and the Kurds are uniting in support of this city. This is having an influence on the international community and public opinion, and is also a rebellion against Turkey.”  

Bayık added that, at a time when the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations was being seriously discussed, they wanted a peaceful solution. “The war went on for years and neither Turkey nor us achieved what we wanted. This is why steps must be taken now towards a peaceful solution,” he added.

Cemil Bayık added that they wanted a third party to monitor the process: ”It could be the US or an international delegation. There is a need for mediators and observers,” he said.

Problems in the Middle East cannot be resolved without the Kurds

On being reminded of the growing international support for the Kurds and on being asked whether this would contribute to the process of resolution, Cemil Bayık said the Kurdish question was also an international question and concluded by saying: “We believe that this war has corrected the image of the PKK. The PKK will be part of the resolution of this question. The Kurds are a key force in the Middle East. Thanks to a great degree to the PKK, the Kurds have over time become organised. If the Kurds do not take part, or are not included, problems in the Middle East cannot be resolved. In order for the Middle East to be reshaped there needs to be a resolution of the Kurdish question.”