The Executive Council Co-Presidency of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) responded to the statement of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Chairman Massoud Barzani regarding the rising tensions between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and KDP forces in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
“The executive councils of the PKK and KCK have no problem with the KDP and the Southern Kurdistan (Bashur) government. However, the KDP’s attitudes are getting more and more destructive because of its relationship with the Turkish state and Turkey’s pressure over it”, stated the KCK Executive Council Co-Presidency.
The KDP’s Chairman Massoud Barzani has claimed that the PKK invaded some territories whilst the KDP was fighting against ISIS in Sinjar. The KCK responded to Barzani’s allegations: “The whole world knows that the guerrillas stopped the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)’s genocidal attack. Neither Iraq nor KDP’s military forces were there when the guerrillas arrived in Sinjar. The guerrillas did not take Sinjar from any other force but freed it from ISIS. Thus, it saved the KDP from being responsible for a larger genocide. This struggle of the guerrillas has preserved the honour of the KDP in the first place”.
Massoud Barzani’s statements are trying to legitimize the war between Kurds, stated the KCK and it criticized the relationship between the KDP and Turkey: “It was the guerrillas who held the gate to Erbil and prevented Kirkuk from being taken by ISIS, shoulder to shoulder with the peshmerga forces. Iraqi Kurdistan’s political forces had called on the guerrillas to defend the region. This call was made with the knowledge and approval of the KDP leadership. KDP leader Masoud Barzani went to Maxmur camp afterwards to thank the guerrillas”.
The KCK noted that Barzani had criticized Turkey for not providing any help during the ISIS attacks. “During the war in Kirkuk after the referendum, it was the guerrilla forces that defended Kirkuk to the end”, stated the KCK. The KCK added that Masoud Barzani is providing various reasons and justifications to mobilize his forces in areas controlled by the guerrillas: “To legitimize its attacks, the Turkish state claims that the PKK wants to occupy Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. The KDP makes similar claims as well. However, the PKK guerrillas have always felt and displayed great responsibility and respect in these areas. Barzani says that he prevented the infighting between Kurds, but later he gave many reasons and excuses about launching a war”.
The KCK criticized the KDP for its relationship with Turkey and stated that it was because of this relationship that the KDP has recently intensified its hostility and attacks on the PKK and its guerrillas. The KCK reiterated that it does not want a war between Kurds to take place: “For us, a decision for a war against the KDP or any other Kurdish force is impossible. Such a war is not our intention and does not correspond to our way of thinking or our attitude. The fact is that the KDP is besieging the guerrillas and letting the Turkish state bomb them. This is a matter of concern to the entire Kurdish people and their political forces. If the KDP wants to help Turkey regarding its genocide policy and the annihilation attacks of Turkey, it weakens the achievements of Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan. It is a historically fatal mistake to see the tension only as a conflict”.
