The 19th General Assembly of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) was held at a time when the Turkish state has launched an operation of annihilation against the Kurdish people and the Kurdistanian entities. West of Kurdistan once again came under the Turkish invasion. Jarablus and Azaz were not enough, the Turkish state occupied Afrin. Neither did it stop there, it now wants to occupy Serêkaniyê and Girê Sipî, where intense aerial and ground attacks have turned the life of people into an inferno. Their aim is much wider, intending to occupy the whole of West Kurdistan. If they achieve their aim, there is no doubt that the second plan of this barbarian state is the occupation of South Kurdistan. In fact, they have established many military posts in there and have incrementally started their occupationist operation from the Biradost area.
The Turkish state has not hidden its objective of eliminating what the Kurds and Kurdistanians have achieved; it says it loudly and does it in practice. The Turkish state under the leadership of Erdogan allied with the conservative and fascist front of AKP-MHP have been practicing the strategy of military occupation both within and without the country. Erdogan depicts the onslaught in Serêkaniyê and Girê Sipî as an Islamic trophy. The Islamic organisations should condemn this before anyone else.
In order to divert attention away from Turkey’s critical conditions in economics, politics, and social areas, Erdogan with his ally, Bahceli, have resorted to war. They have depicted this war as a sacred, religious endeavour in order to gain support from conservative, religious circles. Along his allies, Erdogan has embraced the totalitarian, autocratic and dictatorial world. They have increasingly drifted away from democratic, peaceful world and pursue their bloodily aggressive politics.
Erdogan and Bahceli have rallied around conservative Islamism and Turkish racism against the Kurds and Kurdistanians. Within this context, they have offered their country’s coffer to foreign authorities, and with this dirty game they want to eliminate the Kurds. The Turkish state directed by the Muslim Brotherhood of Erdogan and the fascism of Bahceli made it clear that they are the biggest enemy of the Kurds and Kurdistanians. The massacres and genocide they committed against the Kurds during the establishing of the Turkish Republic, they are now doing much worse. What they carry out now under the banner of Islam and fascism is not limited to Turkey’s borders, as it is extended to Syria and Iraq.
Albeit, the practice of Kurdistanian patriotic movements made it clear that they will not be able to achieve their non-humane aim. In West Kurdistan, Rojava, Kurds with other ethnic and religious groups along with their international friends solidified and enhanced their resistance which continues to grow. In a similar way that they defeated ISIS and its terror reign, they will defeat the occupationist Turkish forces and liberate their country.
Relaying on their organisational power and with the help of democratic and humanist peoples and establishments all around the world, the Kurds and Kurdistanians will drive out the occupationist Turkish army with its allied jihadist groups. In this poignant time in Rojava’s history, our people in and outside Kurdistan along with democratic and humanist peoples around the world offered their strongest active support to the people of Rojava and did not leave them alone.
Particularly, in South Kurdistan, from Parliament to the Region’s Leadership, from political parties to civil institutions, from ordinary people to the media, they offered their strong support. We see this highly valuable and hope this nation-wide mobilisation will pave the way for national and patriotic unity.
Our people in East and North Kurdistan and in diaspora along with their friends internationally projected a strong objection condemning in the strongest manner the occupationist invasion of Rojava by the Turkish state. This stance deserves appreciation. Wherever they live, our people should maintain and strengthen their united, national and patriotic stance. If the Kurds and Kurdistanians do not limit themselves to rhetoric and realise this national and patriotic stance in practice, they can forestall the anti-Kurdish politics of the Turkish state.
Here, we want to openly and loudly identify the international positions and attitudes. First, we see the ceasefire as a positive step. But the international powers should demand Turkey’s withdrawal from all occupied lands and stop its aggression. We request that an international mechanism play a checking role. The European Union and the United Nations in particular should play that role. They should demand Turkey to stop its invasion unconditionally. In this process, the Syrian Democratic Forces would adhere to the ceasefire so long as they are not attacked by the Turkish army. We also support their decision.
Member states of the European Union, the United States’ leadership, the Security Council of the United Nations called upon Turkey to stop the invasion. These efforts for the people of Rojava were an affective position. We extend to them our appreciation and hope they will support Rojava more actively, and to increase their economic and political pressures on Turkey to yield a result.
This is first time that the Arab League takes a clear stance against the Turkish state, condemning its occupationist invasion, taking some pressuring steps such as imposing sanctions. We highly value this attitude and extend our appreciation to them. Also, the United Nations and the NATO displayed their discontent with the invasion, and sent the Turkish state warning, demanding it to end its invasion and occupation. We also thank them for this, hoping they continue and enhance their support. In particular, we call upon the UN to play for Kurdistan a defending role against its occupiers. Also, many countries condemned the Turkish invasion and declared their backing of the Kurdistanians, especially the people of Rojava. Their position is highly appreciated by the Kurdish people. We greatly value these positions and thank them all.
We call upon the United States of America to express in a similar manner their anti-terrorism position to the Turkish state which not only support the jihadist groups but also has become a new version of ISIS. Passiveness towards Erdogan will only bring disaster to the Middle East. Therefore, our demands from the Congress, the Senate and the American leadership is to not diminish their support for the people of Kurdistan and not unleash Erdogan’s forces on them which represent all that is dark and black. In the fight against ISIS, the Kurds along the Americans and other allies showed to the world that they fight for humanity, democracy and peace. We also call upon the Russians to use their leverage on Turkey, encouraging it to end its occupation of West Kurdistan, Rojava.
We salute the resistance put forward by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), YPG, YPJ and the people of Rojava. We vastly value their resistance. We support them and we are with them. Their resistance has brought a wide popular international support and sympathy. This is important and greatly valuable. In order to forestall Turkey’s occupationist operations, we support their diplomatic, political and defence endeavours. Within this context, their agreement with the Syrian regime in order to end the Turkish occupation is a correct decision. We hope the SDF and the Damascus government will come into a sound concord based on democratic and peaceful coexistence.
To conclude, fighting against the brutal Turkish state and its allied jihadist forces, the Kurds and Kurdistanians are engaged in a life or death resistance. In this life or death struggle, internal unity is LIFE while internal dispersion is DEATH. Thus, we once again call upon all national and patriotic dynamics to forge their national unity. For this historic and magnificent aim, we call upon the leadership of all Kurdistan’s political organisations for an immediate conference where to discuss the current issue and provide the Kurdistanians and the world with a united picture.
The 19th General Assembly of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), attended by its members and guests, wholly condemns the invasion and the occupation of Rojava by the Turkish state. We also strongly condemn Turkey’s enmity towards the Kurds and Kurdistanians, calling upon it to immediately withdraw its forces from both South and West Kurdistan.
The 19th General Assembly of the KNK
18.10.2019