Press Release of the KCK 27.04.2011
As we approach the June 12th General Election the operations led by the AKP government in the political and military areas are increasing.
The brutal attacks on the Democratic Solution Tents, which have been erected by the people of Kurdistan as a means of democratic and peaceful protest, are intolerable and testing our patience. Furthermore, the mass detentions and arrests during this period, turning the streets into torture chambers, have exposed the AKP government's real intentions regarding the elections and the Kurdish people.
The AKP government cannot tolerate the free will of the Kurdish people and its aim is to prevent the expression of this free will. Members of the Kurdish public who have been in contact with the AKP or who have voted for them in the past have, following the local elections of 2009, realised the false 'initiative' policies of the AKP and have now changed sides. The AKP leaders are well aware that they are losing support in Kurdistan. Due to this they can no longer claim, with the help of a few collaborators, that they are the representatives of the Kurds and have accordingly increased the use of police terror. At the same time, these attacks are also an attempt to strengthen their hold on the monopoly of power. The AKP government has led Turkey into a dark cul-de-sac and 'mortgaged' its democratic future. Their election manifesto and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claim that 'there is no Kurdish problem' have exposed the rationale that lies behind recent developments.
The ceasefire declared by our Movement on April 8th was an attempt to create a stable and peaceful environment for the elections to take place. However, the approach of the AKP government has been one of enforcing and increasing police terror to escalate tensions in order to win a few more votes by intimidating free Kurds. Moreover, since March, 17 guerrillas have been martyred in military operations. Almost 500 Kurdish politicians and political workers have been arrested. Hundreds of houses have been ransacked in police operations. In the latest example, in Hakkari all well-known local Kurdish politicians were detained in an operation aimed at leaving not one active politician free; this amounts to political genocide. The purpose of these attacks is to eliminate and pacify Kurdish political activism so that the AKP will be left without any competition in Kurdistan. As if the 10% threshold was not enough, theft of votes on behalf of the AKP, now they want to detain all BDP activists in order to gain more of an advantage. The threat and panic that the AKP is propagating by using numerous excuses is an attempt to legitimise police terror and the work of chiefs of police, district and province governors as AKP representatives.
The attacks and dismantling of 22 democratic solution tents in many cities in one night were reminiscent of and invoked systems of emergency rule. Hundreds of people were detained in these barbarous and inhumane attacks. This is an attempt to intimidate the Kurdish people by creating conflict. It is impossible for anybody who has any honour to accept and remain silent in the face of this unlawful and unjust action. Furthermore, it is even more impossible for a people such as the Kurds to accept this, a people that has waged a great struggle over many years and paid a great price. The resistance shown against these attacks has shown that the Kurds will not bow down.
It is the AKP government which is insistent on provocation during the election period. This is why they are carrying out the attempt to break Kurdish organisations and politicians by detaining, arresting and intimidating them. The burning of Kurdish houses in the Cesme area of Izmir is another example of this fascistic and racist mentality. It is evident that the AKP government, by sabotaging the election process, is hell bent on using all of the state's resources to stop the Kurdish peoples and democratic forces from achieving a victory in the elections.
If the attacks carried out in Kurdistan and Turkey by the AKP against Kurdish patriots and democratic forces do not cease then the AKP government will be held responsible for all negative consequences.
The legitimate and democratic resistance of the Kurdish people against the veto of the independent candidates ended with the brutal attacks of the AKP's police force and hundreds of Kurds being detained. Now that it has been accepted in all quarters that the veto of the independent candidates was a mistake it is imperative that all the protestors who were arrested be released. It is also crucial that the killers of Ibrahim Oruc be brought to justice. This is the only way that justice can be partially served. Despite all this, the Kurds still want to see a stable and peaceful election process. If the AKP are sincere then they will end all political and military genocide operations. From this perspective, we are calling on the AKP government and the Turkish state to end all actions of intimidation and violence against the Kurdish people.
We also call on our people and Turkish democratic forces to stand up and resist the attacks carried out by the AKP and strengthen their organisations as well as claiming their democratic solution tents and strengthening their uprising and defences.
In particular our people should be aware that a new and political struggle and leap forward has commenced and thus should strengthen its organization and target success on the basis of a high level participation.
TO THE PRESS, OUR PEOPLE AND DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC OPINION
The liberation issue of Kurdish people is the liberation and democracy issue of the region. The system that is imposed on our people is based on annihilation – denial and slavery. As a people, it is impossible for us to accept...