Speaking on Stêrk Tv, KCK Executive Council co-chair Cemil Bayık talked about the pressures against HDP, the war waged by the Turkish state against the Kurdish people, the Iraqi state's attack on Shengal and Erdogan's gangs in North-East Syria.

The first part of the interview can be read here.

Huge Pressure on HDP in Turkey

Bayik said: "In North Kurdistan, people are being imprisoned and murdered. Even corpses are being attacked. Prisoners who have served their prison sentence are not being released but receive new sentences. Everything Kurdish is being banned. The Kurdish language is being banned. Kurdish concerts in Mûş, Bedlîs and all major cities of Turkey have recently been banned. Thus, the Turkish state clearly says: `You are not allowed to sing in Kurdish, play theater in Kurdish, receive education in Kurdish or to make a single step in Kurdish. You have to give up your Kurdish language and identity. You have to become Turkish and work for the Turks. Only then will you be able to live.`"

Bayik added: "Who continues to fight democratically against all these attacks? The HDP. The HDP does neither side with the government, nor with the opposition. Because the policy of the opposition only serves the interests of the government and the Kurdish genocide. The opposition does not pursue a different policy. But the HDP pursues the `Policy of the Third Way`. The HDP does not accept the policy of the AKP-MHP. That is why it is being put under such enormous pressure. HDP members are being imprisoned, the attempt to ban the HDP continues, HDP local administrations have been forcefully brought under the control of the AKP-MHP, HDP centers are being shot at and some people are put in front of the HDP center to insult the HDP MPs. A policy of lynching is being pursued against the HDP. Thus, they want to rid the HDP of its opportunities to work as a legal party. Recently, they banned an HDP conference [in Amed/Diyarbakir]. As a response, the HDP simply made its conference outside on the street. This was absolutely the right thing to do. The HDP needs to keep up this attitude. The AKP-MHP government is at the brink of collapse. This is why it is carrying out these brutal attacks against the HDP."

Impact of War in Ukraine on Kurdistan

Bayik said: "Ukraine has suffered huge damage due to the war with Russia. Russia has also been unable to achieve its goals. Similarly, the forces of capitalist modernity had thought that they would be able to achieve quick results in the war between Ukraine and Russia. But they have been unable to do so. The war is still going on and it will continue. This situation has brought capitalist modernity into a very critical situation. Because of this, they have become more dependent on Turkey. Turkey tries to benefit from this. It wants to continue its relations with Russia and Ukraine, but also – and even more importantly – with NATO. Because Turkey has once again realized that it can achieve its desired results with this kind of policy. NATO wanted to achieve quick results in the war between Russia and Ukraine, but now finds itself in a very bad situation. Turkey both maintains its relations with Russia and continues to be a member of NATO. That is why their relations with Turkey have become even closer. Through Turkey, they want to transport gas and oil from the Middle East to Europe. Turkey has realized this and is now trying to benefit from these forces for its attempt to destroy the PKK."

Bayik continued: "This is why NATO is closing its eyes to what the Turkish state is doing. Consequently, NATO does not take a stance against Turkey´s use of chemical weapons or against its occupation. NATO acts like Turkey wasn´t doing anything. When Russia started to attack Ukraine, everybody protested against this. But when the Turkish state occupies South Kurdistan [North Iraq] and Rojava, uses chemical weapons, murders people and destroys the nature there, nobody says a word. Because these forces share certain interests with Turkey and want to use Turkey for their goals. Turkey itself considers this as an opportunity. Turkey knows that Russia is in need of relations with it and therefore tries to secure support from Russia. It hopes to thus be able to successfully pursue its genocidal policy against the Kurdish people and the PKK."

Bayil insisted that "Europe and NATO have now given Turkey and the KDP certain tasks. The KDP and Turkey also want to transport gas and oil from the Middle East through their territories to Europe. Europe only cares about its own interests. They don´t have anything to do with ethics, conscience, human rights, democracy and freedom. For Europe, everything that counts are its own material interests. In order to receive oil, they close their eyes to everything the Turkish state is doing. And they even support Turkey. Currently, they are spreading propaganda by claiming that the PKK did not allow gas and oil to reach Europe and that they were attacking the PKK in order to get rid of this obstacle. This is how they are now trying to deceive everybody. The PKK has never obstructed the transport of gas and oil. The PKK does not pursue a policy like that. They are just trying to come up with such an excuse in order to cover up their war of annihilation and genocide against the PKK and the Kurdish people. So that nobody protests against this war. With this excuse, they want to both occupy South Kurdistan and achieve their neo-Ottoman goal of reaching the Mîsak-î Mîlî borders. Therefore, their policy is not based on human rights, law, ethics and conscience but only on their own interests. For this policy, they want to sacrifice the Kurds."

Blackmailing of Sweden and Finland by Turkey

Bayik said: "Sweden and Finland have recently decided to join NATO. According to the rules of NATO, the approval of all NATO states allows new members to join. But if one member says ´no´, joining NATO is impossible. It is only Turkey that does not accept Sweden´s and Finland´s NATO membership and uses this to blackmail them. It uses the PKK and the Kurds for its blackmailing. Turkey demands Finland and Sweden to stand against the PKK, help them destroy the PKK and support the genocidal policy against the Kurdish people. Turkey says that it will only accept Sweden´s and Finland´s NATO membership, if they agree to all this. Some NATO member states who support the war against the PKK and the Kurdish people have recently said that they `will consider the demands of the Turkish state`. Thus, they are basically saying that Turkey´s demands need to be accepted."

Bayik added: "Some NATO members have said right away that they accept Turkey´s demands. This means that they accept the destruction of the PKK and the Kurdish genocide and thus carry out the demands of the Turkish state. This is very dangerous. I would like to warn them. They should not pursue a hostile policy towards the Kurds and the PKK. They should not support the Turkish state. They need to avoid giving in to the blackmailing of the Turkish state and need to not accept Turkey´s demands. If they do accept these demands, they will suffer great harm. The Kurds are not like they used to be anymore, but understand these games very well. Nobody can do politics on the back of the Kurds anymore thus securing their own interests and sacrificing the Kurds. The Kurds won´t accept this. They have made a clear decision for freedom. They have decided to either life in freedom, or to not live. It is important for everybody to recognize this and not fall for this mistake."

Bayik continued: "There are democratic circles in Sweden and Finland. The Turkish state wants to crush them as well. This is clearly one of its goals. Because there is the issue of Olof Palme. After Olof Palme was murdered, they put the PKK on the terror list. Later, it became clear that Olof Palme had been killed by certain other forces. The PKK had absolutely nothing to do with this murder. The MIT [Turkish secret service] was involved in this murder. This has become clear. For many years, they have treated the PKK and the Kurds very unfairly. Sweden needs to correct its decision and apologize to the Kurds. Turkey has seen that especially in Europe, many people work for the freedom of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and for the removal of the PKK from the terror list. And Turkey knows that these demands are growing stronger there day by day. In order to stop this, Turkey is now blackmailing these countries."

Need for Democratic Solution in Şengal [Sinjar]

Bayik said: "After the start of Turkey´s attacks on Zap, Iraq attacked Şengal. These attacks were clearly connected with the attacks on Zap. The day of the attacks was a very important religious holiday of the Ezidis, the `Çarşema Sor`. This shows that Iraq did not carry out this attack out of its own will, but instead did what certain other forces asked it to do. It is absolutely not in the interest of Iraq to carry out such an attack. On the contrary, Iraq itself has actually suffered harm from these attacks. This shows that the USA made Iraq carry out this attack. And who made the USA do this? The KDP and the Turkish state. Since 2016, the USA, Turkey and the KDP have pursued such a policy together. In Cerablus [on August 26, 2016] they started to put this policy into practice. The recent attacks on Şengal are a part of this policy."

Bayik added: "Recently, there was war in Şengal, but Iraq was not able to achieve any results in this war. It realized that it would only suffer even greater harm if it continued with the war. If Iraq attacks the Ezidis, this will be considered the same as the Islamic State´s [IS] attacks. This harms Iraq more than it benefits it. The Ezidi people don´t ask to separate themselves from Iraq. They don´t call themselves enemies of the country or demand their own state. All they are saying is: `We want to live in Iraq based on our own identity, religion and values. Until now, we have suffered many genocides and nobody protected us. Therefore, we want to be able to protect ourselves. Iraq needs to accept this.` These demands of the Ezidi people are not huge or difficult to accept. Accepting them would only benefit Iraq internationally."

Bayik continued: "Some people [in Şengal] wanted to protect themselves against this heavy war and tried to leave Şengal. The KDP then used its own people and intelligence service to lead these people from Şengal to areas controlled by the KDP. Thus, they tried to depopulate Şengal and give everybody the impression that only the KDP could stabilize Şengal. The KDP thus tried to occupy Şengal. But Iraq realized this and consequently stopped its attacks. Therefore, Iraq now wants to solve the existing problems not through war but dialogue. This is exactly what the Ezidis have been demanding. I believe that the negotiations are still ongoing. We hope that these talks will lead to positive results. Both the sensitivities of Iraq and the Ezidi people need to be taken into consideration. On this basis, they need to achieve a common ground."

Turkey´s Destructive Syria Policy

Bayik said: "Erdogan wanted to make Damascus fall and make the Muslim Brotherhood gain power there. Thus, he wanted to put Syria under to control of Turkey. When he realized that he wouldn´t be able to achieve this, Erdogan opened Turkey´s doors for the people of Syria. Millions of people thus went to Turkey with the help of MIT. Then, [Turkey] said it would send millions of people to Europe. Europe got really afraid by this and accepted Erdogan´s demands because of its own interests. Europe has given billions of Euros [to Turkey] and has deliberately ignored its genocidal policy. All Syrian factories were brought to Turkey. The people from Syria have become a cheap labor force in Turkey. Thus, Turkey has benefited greatly from them economically. Additionally, Turkey has turned the leftovers of Islamist proxy forces like IS into an army and has used it in Libya, Azerbaijan and elsewhere. Today, they send these Islamist proxy forces wherever they need them."

Bayik added: "Today, Erdogan is telling the Arab states that the Syrian people are suffering in Turkey, that they therefore want to send them to the Arab states and that they need help for this from these states. And the Arab state provide this help. What Turkey actually wants to achieve by this is to settle down its Islamist proxy forces and their families in North and East Syria. Thus, it wants to carry out demographic change. Turkey forces the Kurds to leave their homes and replaces them with Islamist proxy forces. By doing this, Turkey seeks to cut off the connection between North Kurdistan and Rojava."

Bayik continued: "The Turkish state wants to annex all the areas that it has occupied. Now, it wants to annex Efrîn, Bab, Cerablus, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî just like it did with [the province] Hatay. In these areas, the Turkish state has established the same system as in Riha [Urfa] and Dîlok [Antep]. In these occupied cities, education is in Turkish, the schools are in Turkish, Turkish flags have been put up and the police and banks there are Turkish. They have made everything there Turkish. Erdogan portrays all this as a humanistic effort. But actually he does all this against humanity and the peoples. He will settle down the Islamist proxy forces there that he has organized and thus force the people in these areas to capitulate. And he will force everybody to leave who refuses to capitulate. And then, he will call for a `referendum`. Thus, he will turn these areas into a part of Turkey. This constitutes a huge danger."