‘EU, US compromise with Turkey on human values’

HDP Co-leader Demirtas

ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – The Turkish government, European Union (EU) and the United States (US) are not serious about working for peace and democracy in Turkey nor in tackling the Kurdish question in the Middle East, Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition co-leader told Kurdistan24 on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with Kurdistan24, Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said, “We [HDP] condemn both the suicide attacks in Ankara and the arbitrary Turkish accusations against the Kurds after each bombing.”

“Although TAK declared their responsibility for Ankara attack, the Turkish government still insists on making accusations against PKK or PYD,” he said.

Demirtas pointed out that the Turkish government has never attacked the Islamic State (IS) while they continue to claim that they are fighting terrorism. “Turkish forces attacked Cizre and Sur under the pretext that there are terrorists but, in fact, the real terrorists are IS extremists who are somewhere else,” he added.

Demirtas criticized the Turkish reaction following each bombing saying that it is “reckless and illogical” to leave IS extremists out of the equation, and continue to commit atrocities and bombard villages and civilians in Qandil under the pretext of fighting PKK.

 

DIGGING TRENCHES

Demirtas commented on the recent events in southern Turkey by the Turkish government saying that when people dug trenches for protection from the securities' assaults, police retaliated by imposing curfews and launching dragnet security operations.  

“Authorities attacked the civilians who dug the trenches under the pretext that they are seeking an autonomous region,” he said, pointing out that civilians dug the trenches for self-defense. After many peace initiatives, authorities are still arresting people and torturing them.

“Just because people want to defend themselves, the Turkish reaction becomes mass destruction and killings like what Assad is doing in Syria and what Saddam did in Iraq,” Demirtas added.

 

KURDISH PRESENCE THREATENED

Regarding the security and military operations by the Turkish authorities in Cizre, Diyarbakir and Sur, Demirtas said that mass destruction in the Kurdish areas and evacuating them is the first step of the AKP’s plan in cleansing the Kurdish areas of Turkey and transplanting Arab refugees there.

“As the Syrian government planted Arabs in northern Syria in 1961 to disturb the demographic structure of the Kurdish areas, Erdogan is doing the same in southern Turkey,” Demirtas said.

Demirtas added that the Turkish government is planning to grant Turkish citizenship to many Arab refugees in southern areas of Turkey, near the Rojava borders (north of Syria).

“By granting Turkish citizenship to Arab refugees, and as the indigenous people (Kurds) are leaving due to the security operations, the demographic structure of the Kurdish areas will gradually change,” he said.

“Erdogan claims that he offers shelter to refugees as a charitable act, but it is for transplanting a new culture in the southern areas of Turkey and wiping out the original one,” Demirtas said

On the attempts to preserve the demographic structure of the Kurdish areas, Demirtas said that HDP launched many campaigns asking for the lifting of curfews.

 

INTERNATIONAL SILENCE

Demirtas criticized the international silence towards the mass killing and destruction in Turkey and attributed it to two factors: refugee crisis and historical reasons.

On the refugee crisis, Demirtas stressed that Erdogan’s statement about letting thousands of refugees pass Turkey to Europe is putting more pressure on the EU countries if they criticize or condemn Turkish operations.

“Erdogan managed to make the EU silent towards his operations and, unfortunately, they surrendered to his threat and compromised its human rights values,” Demirtas said.

On the historical reason, Demirtas said that the EU governments do not support any Kurdish autonomous region or state in the Middle East since the last century due to many agreements after the First World War.

Additionally, Demirtas said the US administration turns a blind eye to the Turkish security and military operations against the Kurds because of the US’ use of Incirlik base.

Demirtas criticized the US policy saying that its attempt to ride two horses heading in different directions led to some extraordinary political contortions. He explained that US air crafts have been aiding PYD by furiously bombing IS positions, but it still denounces PKK as a “terrorist” movement.

KURDISH REGION IN SYRIA

Demirtas said Erdogan was fighting Syrian Kurds indirectly by using terrorist organizations, such as IS, Nusra and Ahrar ash-Sham as proxies, and recently fought them directly by bombarding many Kurdish areas in Syria.

On the democratic process among the various Kurdish parties, Demirtas said that the political fissures among the Kurdish parties make him disappointed.

“Kurds achieved great developments in the democratic process compared to the other Middle East nations especially after the Arab spring, so we should keep this improvement,” he said.

“I remain critical of the many Kurdish parties that prefer their personal interests instead of democracy,” Demirtas said.

 

KURDISTAN INDEPENDENCE

Demirtas expressed his pride and concerns about the latest events in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“I am worried about the financial crisis and the political rifts in the Kurdistan Region, and I recommend that all Kurdish parties collaborate in solving the crisis,” Demirtas said, pointing out that the parties should accept criticism and cooperate with each other.

“On the other hand, I am proud and happy to see the solidarity of PKK fighters and Peshmerga fighting on one front together against IS,” he said.

Regarding Kurdish independence, Demirtas said that he supports it and highly appreciates President Masoud Barzani’s steps toward the goal of all Kurdish people.

“People’s will is the most powerful force, and I support Kurdistan’s independence if people are seeking this solution,” he said.

 

KURDISH LANGUAGE

Demirtas said that promoting Turkish language and prohibiting Kurdish language was harmful to the peace process.

“The problem is that Turkish is promoted as the language of university and economics, and this is why people are keen to teach their children in Turkish,” he said.

“I was a victim of this policy and until now I am not happy and embarrassed for being the leader of a Kurdish party and not able to speak my mother tongue fluently,” Demirtas said.

 

PEACE PROCESS

At the end of the interview, Demirtas commented on the peace process saying that it should be brought into practice and that it cannot be achieved by simply making statements about it.

“Saying the word ‘sugar’ will not make you feel sweetness, and similarly saying the word peace does not mean that we can achieve it,” Demirtas said.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany