The Co-Presidency of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council released a statement about the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council’s decision to dissolve the Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ), Tevgera Azadi ya Civaka Kurdistanê (Kurdistan Freedom Movement) and the Democratic Struggle Front Party.

The KCK statement on Wednesday includes the following:

“Three legal political parties carrying out political activities in Iraq have been shut down on the grounds that they are related to our movement. It is clear that the Iraqi government took this decision at the request and imposition of the KDP and the Turkish state. This decision is purely political. It is anti-democratic and has nothing to do with the law. We strongly condemn the Iraqi government for this anti-democratic decision. By submitting to the impositions of the KDP and the Turkish state, the Iraqi government has put the Iraqi state and society under heavy reproach. This anti-democratic decision has gone down in history as a black mark on the Iraqi state and society.

It is a completely baseless and inconsistent approach to accuse PADÊ, Tevgera Azadi, and the Democratic Struggle Front Party, which were established according to the Iraqi constitution and carry out political activities within the constitutional framework, on the grounds that they are associated with our movement and to use this as a justification for their closure. These political formations have no organizational ties with our movement beyond their adoption of Rêber Apo’s [Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s] ideas, and the Iraqi state is one of the forces with which our movement has developed the most relations in the Middle East. Our movement has come to the aid of the Iraqi people against ISIS without expecting any reciprocity. Our forces went to the places where ISIS entered, fought them, and liberated these places. The Iraqi government at the time held talks with the leadership of our movement and publicly expressed its gratitude to our movement. But unfortunately, the current Iraqi government has the opposite approach. It takes a stance against our movement while allying with the forces with the ISIS mentality. This represents a clear turning point, a turning away from the truth and reality that is not in Iraq’s interest in any way. There is no difference between marching with Tayyip Erdogan and marching with ISIS. We emphasize once again that by following Tayyip Erdogan, the Iraqi state and society are being dragged into great danger. The Turkish state, following its neo-Ottomanist mentality, seeks to establish hegemony in the region. Its genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people and its approach to Iraq are related to this. The Turkish state is trying to achieve this goal by developing war and conflict. It wants to achieve its neo-Ottomanist ambitions by pitting Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Jews, Persians, and all other peoples and societies against each other. Developing relations with those who have such a mentality and think that they will benefit from it is not only wrong but also a service to the opposing power. From this point of view, we once again call on Iraqi political forces, parties, and intellectuals to act responsibly and take a clear and decisive stance against this course that leads the Iraqi state and society into danger.

It is extremely significant that the decision to close down PADÊ, which has gained the attention of the people of Shengal (Sinjar), coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Shengal massacre. This clearly means taking a stance in favor of genocide and is an attempt to appease Turkey. PADÊ is a party founded by those who took to the mountains and did not leave Shengal when ISIS attacked. It is an organization of democratic struggle against genocide. Now, it is wanted to shut such a party down, but the forces that abandoned the people of Shengal to genocide and fled when ISIS attacked want to dominate it. This attitude, which reveals how the people of Shengal and the genocide are approached, reveals what kind of mistake Iraq is being dragged into under the current government. Suppressing the will of the people of Shengal does not serve as a solution to the problems in Shengal and will only worsen them. This is an approach that harms both the people of Shengal and Iraq. The closure of PADÊ is a plan of the Turkish state and the KDP. The Turkish state and the KDP have plans for Shengal, and in order to realize these plans, they are working to ensure that the problems in Shengal remain unresolved, deepen, and continue. The closure of PADÊ is the result of such intentions and purposes.

We once again condemn this extremely wrong, dangerous and anti-democratic decision of the Iraqi government and draw the attention of everyone concerned to the current course of events. It should be known that we consider not only the government but all those who are responsible for this course of events. In this respect, we once again call the Iraqi forces to responsibility. On the other hand, all Southern Kurdistan and Iraqi democratic forces, intellectuals and civil society organizations should take a stance against this unjust and anti-democratic decision taken by the Iraqi judiciary and stand with the people of Southern Kurdistan, Iraq and Shengal.”