MESOP : THE LITTLE BROTHER OF A SHINING STAR LEADER – Ocalan’s Brother: PKK Does Not Accept Kurdish rivals in Turkey

Karzan Sabah Hawrami – Basnews – 21.01.2015 – ERBIL – The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), says that violent confrontations between the PKK and the pro-Kurdish Free Cause Party (Huda-Par) in which eight people have so far died, show no signs of ending.

In a statement to BasNews on Monday, Osman Ocalan said that the clashes had the potential to be more damaging that those in the 1990s when the PKK fought the radical Hizbulla group. He claims Huda-Par share a similar ideology with Hizbulla.

Osman believes that the political landscape of Turkish Kurdistan needs to follow the example of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where three Islamic parties operate.

If the KRG hindered the Islamic parties in any way, he says, violent opposition would quickly follow.“The PKK claims North Kurdistan [Kurdish populated areas of Turkey] as its own, and refuses to partner with any other party, or even allow them to develop. There are just a few small parties to show that there is freedom in North Kurdistan[Kurdish region of Turkey],” said Osman. He continued, “When Huda-Par was established, the party attracted plenty of support. PKK sees this as a threat to its own popularity, and hence the violence.” Osman claims that the Turkish government is taking advantage of the clashes, with the PKK claiming that the ruling AKP party is behind the unrest. The losers in the situation are the Kurds.“Huda-Par has a large number of supporters, increasing its share of the vote in every election,” added Osman.