İZMİR - Speaking about the operation launched against the Federated Kurdistan Region, Peace activist Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı, said, "As someone who has fought against the PKK in the past, I know very well the strength and invincibility of the PKK. These attacks will be repelled." 

 

The operation launched by Turkey in cooperation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) against the Federated Kurdistan Region's Zap, Metina and Avaşîn regions on April 17 continues. In addition to the airstrikes against the area, ground attacks are carried out with the support of the KDP's special forces. Against the attacks, reactions are rising from many circles, especially the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sadr Movement. While Iraq gave a note to Turkey to end the attack, the Sadr Movement called the Iraqis to take to the streets. While citizens in the Federal Kurdistan region are protesting the attacks in the streets, the Kurds in European countries continue their demonstrations against the Turkish state and the KDP.

 

Peace activist Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı evaluated the attacks of the Turkish Armed Forces on the Federated Kurdistan Region.

 

A MESSAGE OF GENOCIDE

 

Mentioning that the attack was not happening for the first time, Yaylalı said, “After the PKK was established, numerous operations were carried out since 1983. We see state violence and genocidal operations against Kurds from the past to the present. But they could not get a result. It was effective for some governments of that period sometimes, and in certain periods, the failures brought the governments down. The previous attack was launched one year ago, on a date that would coincide with the Armenian Genocide. Again, as a symbol, it was coincided with a month when the Armenian Genocide took place. In this sense, the whole world knows that a message of genocide is also intended to be given to the Kurdish people.”

 

KDP COOPERATION

 

Noting that the KDP was also actively siding with the Turkey in these attacks, Yaylalı continued:  "KDP has done this in the past. During the 'Steel Operation' that took place in 1995, I was held captive by the PKK in the region from Haftanin to Avaşîn. The camp we were in was surrounded by the KDP and the Turks. There were intense clashes. But the guerrillas not only took us out of there alive but also repelled the soldiers and KDP peshmerga. The KDP spilled the blood of the Kurdish people to protect its own interests. Today it continues on the same path.”

 

THE WAY TO STAY IN POWER

 

Pointing out that there are two reasons for the military operations against the Kurds, Yaylalı emphasized that the first is to completely destroy the Kurds. Stating that if this can be done, Yaylalı told that the population would be eroded or forced to migration from their homelands. Yaylalı said, “The second reason is that the war against the Kurds has always been one of the ways the governments took for their own survival. If a war is waged against the Kurds, no one will oppose and they will owe their allegiance to you. This is the work of 100 years of social engineering. When the latest operation to be carried out in the Zap and Avaşîn regions was announced, the opposition parties announced that they were paying allegiance to the government one by one. As the elections approach, there is an economic crisis. Again, the government failed to fulfill any of its promises. As a result, it is waging a war to maintain its power.”

 

'I KNOW ITS INVINCIBILITY'

 

Noting that it is not possible to get a result from these attacks, Yaylalı said that the Zap and Avaşîn regions are full of deep valleys and this region is not penetrable with a land operation. Reminding that this has been tried many times before, Yaylalı said, “I witnessed at least two years of these attacks. I even fought against the PKK as a soldier for a while. Based on all these years of experience, I say that there is nothing that can be done against the PKK in the Zap and Avaşîn region. As someone who has fought against the PKK in the past, I know very well the strength and invincibility of the PKK. According to the information we have received very few troops that were deployed there were able to advance with the help of the KDP. However, the logistic needs of the soldiers cannot be met, and the soldiers, who were deployed there, cannot return or be rescued. I don't think it can go any further than that. The guerrilla will repel these attacks."

 

JOINT STRUGGLE

 

Stating that "PKK is the core organization of the Kurds," Yaylalı said, "In this sense, the operation against them is an operation against the Kurdish people. This must be accepted. KDP members have been aiming to maintain their own oligarchies for years. They are an oligarch family among the Kurds and have always been fed on Kurdish blood. As in the past, the Kurds will gain their rights at great cost today as well. But if the Kurds lose, we will all lose because we are what the PKK represents in its struggle right now. Currently, the PKK is the last stand of peoples, beliefs and differences. A struggle is being waged against the Turkish exploiters, who have created themselves with policies of genocide in the last 40 years. We need to cooperate in order not to leave the will of the Kurdish people alone against this colonialism and to relieve the burden on their shoulders. The solidarity we give to the Kurds is an effort we put into our own struggle." 

 

Stating that the state would never propose a peaceful solution, Yaylalı emphasized that the state should impose a solution other than war. Stating that all countries that sell or will sell weapons to Turkey should be protested, Yaylalı said, "All peoples, especially the Kurdish people, have to expose all the groups that participated in this attack all over the world. Similar reactions should be shown to Masrour Barzani all over the world, as was done in London. The occupiers, those who have common interests with the occupiers, should be exposed wherever they are. If we succeed in this, we will both get rid of them and establish a common life like this.”

 

 

 

MA / Tolga Guney