URGENT PRESS RELEASE: Turkish Jets is bombing Kurdish Guerrillas and civilians in South-Kurdistan (Iraq)

Yesterday on the 24^th of July, at 10:55pm Turkish jets have bombed Kurdish areas (xakurke, Qandil, Behdin, Zap, Gare, Basye, Amedia, and Avasin) in south Kurdistan where mostly PKK guerrillas and civilians are situated. This attacks are still continuing.

The AKP government authorized Turkish military and air force to bomb these civilian areas, including in Xakurke and the Enze village in Qandil. Reports from local sources indicate that a number of civilians were injured during these attacks, with villages, farms and homes destroyed.

Turky is insisting on war against the Kurds.

This attack by the Turkish regime on the Kurdish areas is an attempt to end the cease fire proposed by the Kurdish leader, Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Before the commencement of this attacks, the AKP government banned all outside contact with Mr. Abdullah Ocalan starting from 5^th April 2015, including access to his legal team. The AKP government has also provoked the Kurdish defense forces of HPG since 2013. However,  because these provocations by the Turkish state has not succeeded the AKP regime commenced a new operation on the 24^th of July with the attack in south Kurdistan, and to unequivocally end the ongoing cease fire with the PKK.

The date of the attack is symbolic

The attack on the Kurdish guerrillas and the civilians in south of Kurdistan on the 24^th reminds us of the anniversary of the Lausanne agreement (24^th of July, 1923). With this agreement Kurdistan was divided into four parts and a serious forced assimilation, and at times direct annihilation policy adopted by the states the Kurds were divided within, including Turkey.

Yesterday’s attack highlights that this policy of annihilation against the Kurds is still very much ongoing and on the agenda. The AKP government has amplified this policy by collaborating with ISIS for over two years against the Kurds in the four parts of Kurdistan. AKP is using ISIS to keep the Lausanne agreement alive.

Collaboration between AKP and ISIS

The collaboration between AKP and ISIS in Syria is increasing daily. The AKP government has supported ISIS militants in Syria to prevent the Kurdish efforts towards democracy and revolution in Rojava. This support by Turkey has included access to weapons, access to the Rojava-Turkey border crossings and extensive medical support for ISIS militants. This level of support is ongoing, and it is a mistake to believe that the limited bombings overnight in the Syria on selective ISIS weapons warehouses is an indication of Turkey’s shift in policy. Simultaneously, the AKP government’s assault on the Kurdish guerrilla bases is to explicitly impair the Kurdish fight against ISIS. The attack over night against the PKK will only give ISIS a moral boost and support in its fight against humanity.

International public opinion has consistently demonstrated concern over the open collaboration between ISIS and the AKP government, resulting in extensive international criticism. It is essential that this international criticism remains loud and persistent in its condemnation of the Turkish attack on the Kurds in Turkey and in Iraqi Kurdistan.

We, the KNK call on the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), all Kurdish political parties, civil society groups and NGOs to stand against these attacks, because this is not just an assault against the PKK but all Kurds.

We urgently call on international institutions including the UN to consider the attacks by the Turkish state in Suruc, in Kobane and now in Qandil as a violation of international law and legal norms and to act immediately against ending this policy by the Turkish regime.

Kurdistan National Congress