The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) today decided to temporarily suspend its operations in Turkey following the earthquake near the Syrian border that claimed more than 21,000 lives in both countries.
“Stop the operations in the cities of Turkey. We have decided not to carry out any initiative until the Turkish state attacks us,” said Cemil Bayik, a senior official in the movement, quoted by the Firat bureau, close to the PKK. , which is considered a terrorist organization in Ankara.
“Our decision is valid until our people’s pain is relieved and their wounds are healed,” the official added, without specifying a date.
The Turkish army had in recent months intensified its operations against the PKK, both in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq, both with a Kurdish majority, since the ceasefire between the government and the armed group in July 2015 was broken. .
Bayik highlighted the “great disaster” caused by the series of earthquakes that happened and said that the population is “in very difficult conditions in the affected areas”.
“In particular, people suffer much more from the policies of the invaders and the murderous Turkish state,” he denounced.
Cemil Bayik also offered his condolences to the families of the victims and lamented that “thousands of people are still under the rubble”.
“It is winter. It is raining and it is cold. If they are not rescued as soon as possible, they may die of cold. Everyone must mobilize all their resources. Everyone must mobilize to save our people. Everyone, especially the democratic institutions “, he emphasized.
“Unfortunately, earthquakes happen all over the world. The most important thing is that many countries take precautions against earthquakes to suffer less damage and losses,” explained the senior PKK official, who said no measures are being taken in Turkey.
In this sense, he recalled that Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “has been in power and running the state for 20 years.”
“They should have taken precautions, but the AKP did not act. They did not act in favor of the population. They have been taxing for years to prevent further damage from earthquakes, but nobody knows what happened to them,” he said.
“The Turkish state has used all means to slaughter the Kurdish people in Kurdistan. It has spent millions of dollars on this,” denounced the official, accusing: “(the AKP) committed theft, corruption and looting during its mandate and made the the rich get richer and the people get poorer.”
Bayik also gave the example of Japan: “There are not so many buildings that collapse and there are not so many deaths because they take the risk seriously and take precautions. That is why there is not so much pain in an earthquake”.
He also stressed that if Ankara had taken “precautions”, there would not have been “thousands of destroyed buildings and devastated towns and villages”.
On the other hand, he criticized Parliament’s decision to approve a 10-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces affected by the earthquakes, many of which are home to significant Kurdish populations, and stressed that the aim is “to contain the earthquake”.
“The government wants to suppress the pain and tears of the people so that the pain and tears do not go further,” he argued, adding: “They have mobilized the press so that no one knows what is happening and are developing propaganda to spread the people of the world” .
“They hide a lot of people. They make it look like they help people everywhere, but it’s a lie. The independent media will expose their lies. They want to prevent people from sending aid to the affected areas and they want to prevent cooperation between peoples,” stated.
He also accused the government of “wanting to put at its service the help of the people and from other parts of the world”.
“The Kurds and the Turks must continue to cooperate in every possible way and must not stand in the way of the government,” Bayik told the EFE agency, citing information released by the Kurdish news agency ANF, close to the armed struggle . group.
Turkish authorities this Friday brought the death toll from Monday’s earthquakes to more than 18,300, while about 3,300 people died in Syria, according to the latest figures from the Syrian government and Syrian civil defense, known as “white helmets” and operating in rebel-held areas in the northwest.
Source: DN
