Thousands of people attended the 1 September World Peace rally in Van where the Confederation of Public Workers' Trade Unions (KESK) Co-Chair Mehmet Bozgeyik and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Leyla Güven addressed the crowd.
Leyla Güven said: “The biggest fear of the AKP-MHP fascist power is Rojava. They were never able to accept the gains in Rojava."
Güven added: "Turkey can attack all parts of Kurdistan, but in the end it will be defeated, because what bind us together is a history of centuries."
Call to Barzani: Lead the Kurdish unity
Güven continued: "The most important task for us is to achieve national unity. Mr. Öcalan has been calling for it for years. However, we could not develop a solution and we were not able to answer properly to these calls.
I would like to make another call from Van here today on 1 September. Let us achieve the unity of Kurds in the four parts of Kurdistan. First of all, I appeal to Mr. Massoud Barzani. Mr. Barzani, you are the leader of the Kurds. In order for Kurds who have no status in the 21st century to have status and live freely in their own lands, we need to achieve national unity. Mr. Massoud Barzani may not be in office today, but he is a leader of the Kurds. So he should lead the work towards national unity."
The spirit of Kobanê
The HDP Hakkari MP, and DTK co-chair said: "We, as DTK, issued a declaration a few days ago. We made a call: there is a will against the trustees and there are protests all over the world. We call on all parts of Kurdistan to voice this protest. Let's be united on this and struggle together. Let's win once again with the spirit of Kobanê. We can make it, friends."
This is Kurdistan and we are Kurds!
Güven added: "This action will continue. In such a democratic framework, we have to prove our right to the world by enlarging our actions every day. Why is that? Because so far there is the actual state of emergency imposed on us. I've been to Van before, everything we said here came back to us in the form of an investigation opened against us.
One such investigation is for the word we used, Kurdistan. We continue to call this land Kurdistan, because the name of this place is Kurdistan and we are Kurds. We are right about this and we are carrying out a legitimate struggle."
