The KCK Ecology Committee released a statement on the fires burning in the heart of Kurdistan.

The statement said: "We share the pain that our people have suffered due to the massacre committed by Dicle Electricity Distribution Inc. (DEDAŞ) and the Turkish state in the districts of Shemrekh and Cinar. We would like to emphasize that we are deeply saddened. First of all, we wish mercy to those who lost their lives in this massacre, offer our condolences to the bereaved families and the people of Kurdistan, and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.

Eyewitness testimonies clearly reveal that this massacre was committed by DEDAŞ itself. DEDAŞ refused to repair the power poles even after years of warnings and official appeals by the people. DEDAŞ has already been the cause of countless deaths in the past and is, again, the culprit of this massacre. As always, the AKP government seeks to protect those responsible from accountability, thus becoming a party to this massacre. Rather than accepting responsibility for the omission of state institutions, the government is blaming society, claiming that the fire was ignited due to litter beds."

The statement added: "DEDAŞ committed three massacres at once through the fires in Shemrekh and Cinar; they caused the loss of human life, devastated nature, and are responsible for the perishing of hundreds of animals. It has publicly demonstrated its enmity to the Kurds for years by implementing hostile policies in a planned and systematic manner that have now reached the level of massacre. DEDAŞ has so far functioned as an institution that distributes inequality rather than service, leaving the Kurdish people without electricity and water.

Through its hostility towards Kurdish society, nature, and agriculture, DEDAŞ has become an executor of the ecological destruction and special war practices carried out by the Turkish state in Kurdistan. With the command of the Turkish government, dams are being built to cut the much-needed water of the entire Middle East. DEDAŞ, an extension of the fascist government's policies, has worked consistently to leave the Kurdistan region waterless and without electricity, bringing agriculture and animal husbandry to the level of extinction. By imposing poverty, thirst, and consequently migration, DEDAŞ has become a tool of continuous oppression, forcing migration in Kurdistan by destroying all means of life of the Kurdish people."

The statement continued: "The AKP government is as responsible as DEDAŞ for not intervening in the fire and paving the way for this massacre through its fascism-based omission. It was once again seen that the biggest disaster for the people and for nature, is the state and the policies it implements. The hostility of the AKP towards the people and nature has been portrayed time and time again during the earthquake in Marash on February 6th, or in the massacres in Soma and Ilic. The Turkish state has already used its airplanes, helicopters, and gendarmes to massacre the Kurdish people and destroy the nature and forests of Kurdistan. The gendarme has been deployed not to protect nature, but for the interests of crony companies, ecological destruction, and massacres of forrests. While the Turkish state’s air force and all its facilities are kept ready day and night to slaughter Kurds (examples of which are Roboski, Shengal, Rojava, southern Kurdistan, and all over Kurdistan), these air forces were deliberately not deployed in a situation where it was needed for the nature and public interest. State authorities, who increase the war budget every year and boast that they are one of NATO’s largest armies, have siphoned off the aid collected from the people, let alone allocating a budget for forest fires, natural disasters, and the climate crisis."

The statement further said: "The Turkish state seeks to eliminate the Kurdish people’s means of life by occupying Kurdish lands through ecological destruction, dams, power plants, and anti-agricultural policies. These have been put into practice, as part of the war waged in Kurdistan, for years. The government obviously seeks to deepen this with further provoked disasters and massacres. Once again, it was revealed that the Turkish state, with its fascist, self-interested mentality, is the biggest threat to nature and all peoples. The consequences of every disaster we face are aggravated by this mentality of the state, leading to new disasters. As a result of this mentality, we are likely to face even greater disasters. As the peoples of Kurdistan, Turkey, and ecological movements, we are responsible for protecting the people, nature, and animals against the state’s destruction, violence, and the disasters it causes. All state policies to displace the people and confiscate their land must be resisted. One must not remain silent against the state’s practices that do not allow people to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry and that threaten our future.

The current developments show once again that it is necessary not to ask the state for help but to hold the state to account and take measures against all the disasters caused by it. Therefore, for those who are in solidarity with the people, nature, and life, what needs to be done after all disasters is not to hope for help from the state but to increase organized solidarity and resistance. The government’s anti-nature and anti-people policies can only be stopped by an organized and conscious, comprehensive struggle. In order to stand against these massacres, all means must be mobilized to fight for nature and society. DEDAŞ and the state must be held accountable for their massacres and oppression.

The suffering experienced in these disasters shows once again that ecological destruction is a common concern for all of us. Every tree that is cut down anywhere in the world, water and air that are being withheld and polluted must be protected by acting with the awareness that they are common values. It is important to act with the awareness that the trees, water and air that are wanted to be destroyed by the state are the common values of our future, without getting caught up in the state’s terrorizing policies disguised under “security” discourses according to spatial and ethnic borders. Carrying out the ecological struggle with this consciousness and responsibility is the only attitude that will benefit nature, all of us and our future, and make us strong against this destruction. Only our common ecological struggle can stop this fascist, genocidal mentality. Preventing the disasters of the government will only be possible with the struggle we wage wherever we are."