As the advocates for freedom, we are prepared to be friends with all nations especially those in the region, including the Jewish people. KAWA AMIN– rudaw.net
In a Rudaw interview conducted in Stockholm, Remzi Kartal, a prominent Kurdish leader and former MP in the Turkish Parliament, discussed the possibility of new Turkish military operations against Iraq-based Kurdish rebels and claimed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan had no intention of finding a peaceful solution to long-standing questions about Kurdish rights. Rudaw: The situation in northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) is turbulent and it seems that war has become the only response to the current issues. What do you think of the situation? Remzi Kartal: During the June elections, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan claimed that there was no such thing as ‘Kurdish issues.’ He boasted that the Kurds had Kurdish TV, prisoners were free to communicate in Kurdish with their relatives and steps were being taken to include Kurdish language classes in universities. He said the Kurdish issue was not an issue of a nation anymore, but one of terrorism. He even said that if he had been prime minister when (Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, leader) Abdulla Ocalan was captured, he would have ordered his execution. If he had any intention of finding a peaceful solution, he wouldn’t be talking like this. As we all know, during the negotiations Ocalan sent his proposal to both the Turkish government and his group. In his proposal, he presented a peaceful solution. He asked both sides to consider it. The PKK considered the proposal and it was ready to execute it. But the Turkish government didn’t pay attention to the proposal. After that, Ocalan sent out another message to Prime Minister Erdogan and pleaded with him not to consider a military operation. Ocalan pledged to collect all the guerrillas in just one week, but on the condition that Erdogan showed the public that Kurdish issue could be resolved with military action. The Kurdish issue is not an issue of terrorism. It is a political issue. We’re prepared to find a solution for it. If the prime minister takes this step, we are ready to negotiate. Rudaw: Why is Turkey intent on military action? Remzi Kartal: The prime minister may be well aware that his government doesn’t intend to find a solution for the issue. The recent unrest in the region may have brought an opportunity for Turkey. The United States wants to use Turkey to further its political agenda, especially in Syria. The US wants to use Turkey as an example for the Arab world of a moderate Islamic system that has ties with the west and NATO. Erdogan sees this, and sees how the US wants to take advantage of Turkey against Iran and Syria. Erdogan wants to exploit that fact and ask for military support from the US against the PKK before the US troops pull out from Iraq. Rudaw: Do you think the US will support Turkey in its military attacks against the PKK? Remzi Kartal: So far the United States has not shown any interest in taking such action. The US has assisted Turkey in various ways, but it hasn’t yet considered military support. The US assisted Turkey with intelligence information, diplomatically and politically. The Americans don’t see military action as the best option for their country. I don’t think the US will join Turkey in taking military action against the Kurds. But what is happening in the Middle East right now can lead to anything. That’s why the Kurds must be very careful and always be prepared for anything to happen. Rudaw: Recently Erdogan stated that Turkey and Iran can attack the Qandil Mountains together. However, the Iranian ambassador in Turkey said that Iran and Turkey will cooperate, but won’t coordinate their attacks. Remiz Kartal: It’s true. There are no coordinated attacks right now, but Iran and Turkey have an agreement on this issue. In the past, Iran attacked and Turkey provided assistance. The Turks want the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government to assist them as well. They want help from the entire world! But that’s just Erdogan’s dream. Iran tried but failed. Now the issue of NATO’s anti-missile defense system has emerged. It seems it’s being used against Iran. The US ambassador publicly stated that the anti-missile defense system would be used to defend Israel against Iran. Erdogan denied the anti-missile defense system has anything to do with the US and that it is NATO’s issue. Erdogan is lying. He’s trying to preserve Turkey’s relationship with Iran. It seems to me that Erdogan’s imagination isn’t attuned to reality. The Turks are also disappointed in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) cooperation in these matters. In their statements, (Iraqi President Jalal) Talabani and (Kurdistan Region President) Barzani have not given any indication that they are willing to support Turkey’s military operations. All of this indicates that Erdogan will not achieve victory through war. Erdogan’s political game will lead Turkey to a disaster. Erdogan seems to deny the Kurds and their political and human rights in Turkey. He wants to try his luck through war. He made the isolation for the jailed PKK leader even worse. He put Kurdish political leaders in jail. We informed the Turks that they have been trying this method for 27 years and they haven’t gotten anything out of it. It’s not in the best interest of the Kurds and the Turks to continue on like this. It’s in Turkey’s best interest to negotiate with the Kurds and to resolve the issue through dialogue. That would be a huge achievement for the Turks and the Kurds. Right now, Erdogan considers himself an advocate of democracy. But it’s not possible for a country which can’t resolve its domestic issues to play such a role in the world. Turkey can’t claim democracy until it has resolved Kurdish issue. Rudaw: Recently, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani reiterated that a Kurdish-Kurdish war is unacceptable. In the meantime, he said the PKK and PJAK must respect the situation in the Kurdistan Region. Remzi Kartal: In order for Iraqi Kurdistan to be safe and secure, the Kurdish issue has to be resolved in other parts of the Middle East. The countries with Kurdish populations have to change their policies toward the Kurds. If those countries fail to find a solution for the Kurdish issue, there will be ongoing pressure on the Kurds in all four areas (Iran, Syria, Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan.) There is a continuous conspiracy by Iran, Turkey and Iraq against the Kurds. All the behind-the-door agreements between these countries against the Kurds have to be canceled. Instead of conspiracies, these countries should seriously think about finding a solution to the issue. If that happens, Iraqi Kurdistan will enjoy absolute security. That’s the reality for the Kurds. The Kurds from all the four areas have to cooperate. At the same time, they have to protect their successes, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan must endure some difficulties in order to find solutions for the Kurdish issue in the other parts of the Middle East. If Iraqi Kurdistan fully supports Iran and Turkey in this conflict, it will bring danger to them as well. They have to keep a balance between protecting their successes and keeping close relations with the other parts of Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan should have relations with Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq to protect its achievements. But its relations should not be to the detriment of the Kurds in those other countries. President Barzani always says, ‘We are ready to help in any way to find a peaceful solution for the Kurdish issue, but we won’t support confrontation.’ That’s an important policy and it has to be continued. Kurdistan’s enemies must understand the Kurds won’t fight each other anymore. If the Kurds all agree on protecting their national interests, the enemy will understand us and the Kurdish issue will be solved. Rudaw: The tensions between Israel and Turkey reached a point where Israel explicitly expressed support for the PKK. Do you think Israel only wants to use the Kurdish issue against Turkey or do they really want to support the Kurds? Remzi Kertal: As the advocates for freedom, we are prepared to be friends with all nations especially those in the region, including the Jewish people. The Jews are one of the original nations with an ancient civilization in the Middle East. The Jews have the right to live in peace and liberty just as any other nation in the region. But we will never accept Israel’s offer to use the Kurds against Turkey. Israel is the reason Abdulla Ocalan is in prison now. They offered him as a gift to Turkey. Israel’s military support for Turkey which is being used against the Kurds is obvious. We are prepared to be friends with any nation including the Jews in the region. But we very strongly oppose the Kurds being used by Israel against Turkey just because the two countries have tensions now. That era of using Kurds in their political games has passed. We don’t trust anyone to provide help. We rely on ourselves. That’s why we don’t take Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s statement seriously, and we won’t respond to it because we know the agenda behind it. However, we won’t reject being friends with the Jewish people. Rudaw: Recently, a voice recording about the (PKK’s) negotiations with the Turkish government was leaked to the public. Neither side denied the authenticity of the tape. Remzi Kertal: Prime Minister Erdogan and the Parliament did not deny the recording. They admitted there were negotiations and that they have sent MIT (Turkey’s intelligence service) negotiators as government representatives. There were negotiations with both Abdulla Ocalan and the delegation. No one can deny that. But we are also surprised by why the tape came out now. We will discuss and study it. The Turkish government has to reveal the truth about it because their side made it public. The thing is that the negotiations lasted only until the June elections. Obviously, the negotiation was just a waste of time and it was in their own interest. We can see now that they pushed away everything and prepared for war. However, Abdulla Ocalan and all of us are ready for a peaceful solution. Despite their hypocrisy, they still accuse us of being responsible for war. A day will come when Prime Minister Erdogan’s lies will be revealed to Turkey, the Kurds and the entire world. A government based on lies won’t last long. Was it not a lie when Erdogan kept saying that he didn’t negotiate with Abdulla Ocalan?
