Turkish state and government launch all-out war against the Kurds
After the coup against the 7 June 2015 elections, under the leadership of President Erdogan, the Turkish state launched a full-blown war against the Kurds. The state, which has even deployed the navy in Kurdistan, is utilising all its traditional dirty tactics. For several weeks curfews have been imposed in many towns and cities across Kurdistan. These are still continuing in Cizre, Silopi and Sur. The curfews are also on and off in places like Nusybin, Dargecit, Lice and Varto. Until now, the Turkish state has killed a total of 260 civilians in these towns and cities. Most of these killings have been caused by artillery fire from tanks, rockets and sniper fire.
Turkish state is attacking Kurdish elected officials by prosecuting them, relieving elected mayors of their duties and imprisoning journalists. Turkish military forces are targeting especially women and children. Recently three Kurdish women politicians have been killed by Turkish state forces in an extrajudicial killing in Şırnak’s Silopi district.
Party of Democratic Regions (DBP) Parliamentary Assembly member Sêvê DEMIR, Silopi People’s Council Co-chair Pakize NAYIR and Free Women’s Congress (KJA) activist Fatma UYAR, were massacred by Turkish state forces in Silopi where curfew continues for 23 days
Mayors are being imprisoned
Since the latest elections, as many as 20 co-mayors from the DBP have been thrown in prison. Some have been relieved of their duties by the Interior Ministry. While these operations were continuing, the AKP announced new measures. From now on, a government appointed administrator will be brought in to replace the co-mayors who are relieved of their duties. Elected officials are being undermined by state appointed bureaucrats.
New laws against Members of Parliament
While the above mentioned measures are being put forward for the local councils, Turkish President Erdogan has once again shown his intolerance of any criticism against the government voiced by the HDP co-chairs Selahattin DEMIRTAS and Figen YUKSEKDAG, and he has called upon state prosecutors to begin legal proceedings against them. As soon as Erdogan said that, “these people must pay a price”, the judiciary and the legislature moved into action against the HDP co-chairs and other HDP MPs. It is becoming ever more clear that these measures are all part of the state’s masterplan.
The confession document of genocide
It was recently documented that the civilian massacre in Kurdistan is state approved. In a document belonging to the Turkish Ground Forces Command, a warning states, “the results of military personnel not using their weapons in fear of prosecution will be very dangerous” and an order to use weapons is made very clear. In the document, soldiers are given assurances that they will not face prosecution if they kill civilians.
The document that reveals the state’s instructions in recent civilian deaths has the signature of “Ground Forces Command, 172nd Armoured Brigade Command, 3rd Tank Battalion Command, Cizre/Sirnak”. The document carrying the serial number “84933840-3000-350-15” and titled “Personnel’s vigilance and deployment of firearms” is dated 30 July, 2015.
A hundred years ago it was the Armenians
The Turkish regime wants to re-enact the genocides it committed at the beginning of the 20th century against the Armenians (where 1.5 million civilian were massacred) and in Dersim, Agiri and Kocgiri (where hundred thousand Kurds were massacred). Just two days ago Mayor of Adana (AK- Party) Huseyin Sozlu declared in a public statement to Kurds in Turkey: “You will end up like Armenians“
Erdogan wants Hitler’s regime
Turkish President Erdogan clearly stated in front of TV cameras that he wanted a similar style of government to that of Hitler’s Germany. Erdogan described his favoured type of government like this: “We can see similar styles of government in Hitler’s Germany. You can find the same style in other parts of the world too.” This statement was widely reported in the global media. In contrast, this same Erdogan is employing Hitler’s tactics against the Kurdish people right now but for some reason this time the world remains silent.
Depopulation policy in Kurdistan
The people who are resisting against all the attacks are doing everything they can to remain in their homes. The Turkish Army is forcibly trying to make the people of Cizre, Silopi and Sur abandon their homes. These measures, reminiscent of Nazi tactics, are being deployed in these towns on a daily basis. The Turkish Army is threatening the people to leave their homes or risk being massacred.
Towns turned into concentration camps
In the Barbaros Neighbourhood of Cizre alone, as many as 7 thousand people were forcibly removed from their homes and moved to a sports hall in Yenisehir Neighbourhood where they were told to leave the town completely. The people who did not leave their homes are being surrounded by Turkish Army personnel who are firing heavy artillery into the neighbourhoods.
- We call upon everyone to demand an immediate halt to the Turkish state’s massacres.
- While the Turkish state is negotiating with the EU, it is massacring, torturing and imprisoning the Kurds in its own country. Why is the EU remaining silent when faced with these actions that flagrantly violate the EU’s values?
- In a blatant act of vengeance the Turkish state is attacking the Kurds who are in the frontline in the fight against the barbaric ISIS, so why are members of the anti-ISIS coalition remaining silent?
- We call upon the whole world to raise their voices against the Turkish state and Erdogan’s massacre of the Kurdish people.
Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), January 2016
