Kurds request international arbitrators for peace

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (K24) - A group of representatives of Kurdish political parties and civic organizations gathered in Diyarbakir on Friday and called on the Iraqi Kurdistan, the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN), to mediate for peace between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish government.

The PKK and Turkish army have been fighting, mostly in urban areas, since mid-2015 when a largely observed two years-held ceasefire and peace talks between the two sides collapsed.

The representatives of at least five parties unaffiliated with the PKK, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party-North Kurdistan (KDP-BAKUR), Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK), Socialism and Freedom Party (OSP), Kurdistani Party (PAKURD) and the Freedom Initiative (Azadî) joined the gathering at the main Sheikh Said Square where they held Kurdish flags and read a joint statement.

Kurdish parties unaffiliated with the PKK do not enjoy as much public support among Turkey's Kurds, as the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and the Democratic Regions' Party (DBP).

The statement read by lawyer Sidki Zilan, also a member of Azadî, urged the Turkish government to stop military operations against the PKK in curfew-hit Kurdish towns of Cizre, and Silopi, in Sirnak province and the central Sur district of Diyarbakir where hundreds of Kurdish civilians and fighters, and Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes.

Zilan also reiterated Kurdish parties' stance that the PKK should seek a peaceful resolution with the Turkish government. The parties called for a renewal of the now-collapsed peace talks that took place between 2013 to 2015 between the two warring sides.

"We say no to war, and yes to a status for Kurdistan," the group chanted, a K24 reporter at the scene said.

"All the parties and civic organizations of North Kurdistan [part of Kurdistan in Turkey] should negotiate with the Turkish state under monitoring by international entities," further read Zilan.

Also on Friday, a group of Turkish and Kurdish bar associations and human rights organizations, calling itself "the Coalition against Impunity," urged the government and the PKK to start a bilateral ceasefire and resume peace negotiations.

The coalition included the Diyarbakir Bar Association whose head, Tahir Elci, was killed in a street shootout between Turkish police officers and suspected PKK affiliates in the now devastated Sur district, in November 2015.

Other signatories of the online call were Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Turkey, Human Rights Association, and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRF).

According to figures of HRF, as of January 6, 2016, at least 151 civilians have been killed during curfews and clashes in 17 towns across Kurdish majority provinces.

(Zelal Onen contributed to this report from Diyarbakir)