Demirtaş: 400 km in Hakkari under PKK control

29 August 2012 – ANF – 29.8.2012 – In an interview in the main Kurdish city Diyarbakır, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş evaluated the recent developments in the Kurdish region and pointed out that an area of 300-400 kilometers between the towns of Şemdinli and Çukurca has been under the control of Kurdish guerrillas for the last 40 days.

Demirtaş called attention to the ongoing clashes and guerrilla domination in Şemdinli region and said that; “The Turkish army can currently not use the land route in the region whose control has already been taken by the forces of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). However, manipulative statements are made by relevant authorities with an aim to hide the fact that the army cannot defeat PKK in military area. The conclusion we should draw from the current situation is the fact that the Kurdish problem cannot be solved through military ways and that it is not an outcome of the PKK movement.”

BDP co-chair noted that the bloodshed and deaths could be stopped should the government draw true conclusions from the current situation in the country and prefer the concepf of negotiation to the concept of war. Demirtaş underlined that the BDP would be ready to put stronger support behind a solution to the Kurdish issue.

Demirtaş continued mentioning the war in Syria and pointed out that the Turkish state has primarily intended to interrupt the freedoms and rights of the Syrian Kurds since the very beginning of the conflict environment in the country. “It is a historicity and a reality that Turkey will be doomed to lose in its foreign policy as long as it refuses to have Kurds standing behind the country. The Turkish state loses in the Middle East in relation to its losing the Kurds. That’s why the government should avoid Kurdish phobia so that the future of the Turkish and Kurdish people could be built jointly”, Demirtaş underlined.