“The sum of bombs Turkey dropped on Kurdistan, especially in recent years, is more than the sum of bombs dropped in WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War combined,” Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Member Mustafa Karasu said in an interview on Friday.

“The United States and Europe, which are sensitive about chemical weapons elsewhere, ignore NATO member Turkey’s crimes. Thus, they are trying to cover up their complicity,” said Karasu. “NATO’s second largest army’s use of chemical weapons means NATO’s use of chemical weapons.”

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) act hostile against Kurds and work to crush democratic forces to secure their hold on power, Karasu said.

If the Turkish government crushes the freedom struggle of the Kurds, who Karasu said resist Turkey’s racist, chauvinistic and expansionist policies, there will be no one left to stand against expansionist neo-Ottoman policies. However, if the government’s attacks are stopped, Turkey could become a more democratic country, he explained.

Turkey considers standing against its nationbuilding efforts in Kurdish areas to be “the greatest crime”, Karasu said, calling the country’s actions “genocidal colonialism”.

“Now they use the concept of terrorism, to better camouflage this genocidal colonialism,” he said.

According to Karasu, Turkey would target Arab states in the region if it manages to crush Kurds. “All democratic forces in the Middle East should calculate what Turkey would turn into if the Kurdish people’s fight for freedom is eliminated. Think of the negative, so the significance of our movement is well understood.”