Turkey's HDP supports demonstrations in Iranian Kurdistan
ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan 24) Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Wednesday declared support for demonstrations by the Kurds in Iran against that country's armed forces' killing of border couriers known as 'Kulbar.'
"I, as a Kurd from Bakur [Turkey's Kurdistan], am with all our people in Rojhelat [Iranian Kurdistan]. They are not alone," HDP's spokesperson Osman Baydemir told Kurdistan 24.
People in the Iranian Kurdish cities of Baneh, Mariwan, Serdest, Sanandaj, and Piranshar have been on the streets, protesting the Monday killing by Iranian border guards of two civilian couriers; Ghader Bahrami, 41, father of four, and Heydar Faraji, 22.
"40 million Kurds across the Middle East support them," Baydemir stated.
The HDP lawmaker himself was in the meantime protesting Turkish authorities' continued imprisonment of his party's charismatic co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and ten other MPs.
"Our brothers and sisters in Eastern Kurdistan are unfortunately passing through a very difficult time," Baydemir added.
"I call upon the Tehran government to leave behind its enmity and racism toward the Kurds," Baydemir said.
"Those engaging in hostility against the Kurds have been defeated. Those who befriended the Kurdish people have succeeded," he said.
The rising tension in Baneh and elsewhere has led to clashes between a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated East Kurdistan Force (YRK) and Iranian forces.
YRK reportedly killed two Iranian soldiers in retaliation for the two killed kulbar on Tuesday.
Baydemir separately touched Kurdistan Region's upcoming referendum on independence from Iraq and the fledgling Kurdish-led autonomy in Syria.
The national consciousness and mood of the Kurds in Turkey are greatly affected by developments in those two parts of Kurdistan, he said.
"Although there is too much oppression in Bakur, hopes are high because of the successes of Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) and Kurdistan Region," he explained.
"September 25 is a historic day. The HDP we would be proud of witnessing that day," Baydemir said when asked if they would send a delegation to monitor the referendum.
"If I had a vote, I would have voted yes," Baydemir stated, repeating the word in the Kurdish, English and Turkish to a Kurdistan 24 reporter interviewing him on TV.
"The biggest problem in the Middle East is that the governments in Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, and Ankara view the Kurdish existence and demands as a threat [not a right]. This obsession with [a false perception of] the Kurds keeps them away from democracy and peace," he said.
A peaceful path to the independence of the Kurdistan Region, Baydemir believed, would prove to be an example for a solution in other parts of Kurdish homeland divided by neighboring states of Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey.
Editing by Ava Homa
(Ercan Dag from Ankara contributed to this report.)