HDP equates a Turkish invasion of Rojava to Saddam's occupation of Kuwait
VAN, Turkey (Kurdistan 24) - Opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said on Thursday that any invasion of Kurdish Syria by Turkey could potentially end up the way Iraq's 1990 occupation of Kuwait resulted, a pathway to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein regime's downfall and international intervention.
Speaking to the media in the Kurdish city of Van, near the border with the Iranian Kurdistan, Turkey's third largest party's spokesperson Osman Baydemir criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan government's policy vis a vis the Kurds in Syria.
"Your Syria policy is a dirty one from the very beginning. Enmity of the Kurds will not help you win anything. [Turkey's] biggest loss will result from its anti-Kurdish stance," Baydemir said.
HDP lawmakers have been staging week-long demonstrations since last month against a crackdown by Turkish authorities on Kurdish political movement that has seen thousands imprisoned including the party's co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and ten other MPs.
Van is the third leg of the ongoing protests that started two weeks ago in Diyarbakir and Istanbul respectively, reported a Kurdistan 24 correspondent following the event.
Turkey recently started threatening to invade the self-declared Kurdish canton of Afrin in northwestern Syria on the ground the region is a hotbed of "terrorism" amid continuous military reinforcements and sporadic bombings.
"One of the two policies that brought the end of Saddam regime was its anti-Kurdish stance. And the straw that broke the camel's back was the occupation of Kuwait. Any invasion of Afrin [by Turkey] carries the risk of bringing about the same result," Baydemir said, reminding of the late Iraqi dictator's genocidal war on the Kurds in the 80s.
Turkey claims the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syrian Kurdistan and its US-backed military wing Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) that is spearheading the war on the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria are "terrorists."
"If you do not want bigger catastrophes, give up this policy," the HDP lawmaker called on the Turkish government.
Editing by Ava Homa