Turkish army wants to establish a buffer zone in South Kurdistan

The Turkish state is attempting to connect the areas cleared of civilians by the KDP over the past two years and establish a buffer zone from Behdînan to Bradost.

As is well known, the historical Kurdistan Region was divided into four parts. The respective regimes violently enforced a policy of Turkification, Arabisation and Persianisation in the parts of Kurdistan under their control. This was systematically accompanied by massacres. The Turkish state, notorious for its cruelty and expansionism, was given the biggest task. Immediately after the proclamation of the Republic, a policy of denial, extermination and expulsion was launched in Turkey. Since then, each successive government has made it its main task to consistently implement this concept of homogenisation and annihilation.

The Baathist regime in Syria tried to tear apart the Kurdish population in Rojava with the so-called "Arab Belt". The Baathist regime in Iraq pursued the same policy against the population of South Kurdistan. The massacres in South Kurdistan (North Iraq) were accompanied by measures to change the population structure; even Uzbeks were resettled in Kurdistan for this purpose.

South Kurdistan has been systematically opened to the Turks

Kurdistan was surrounded on all sides by the colonial powers and most of the civilian areas were turned into military sites. If you visit many cities in northern Kurdistan (eastern Turkey) today, you will realise that the military installations are sometimes larger than the civilian residential areas. This has become a strategy. These military areas have been expanded both inside and outside the country, i.e. the borders of the occupying states between the parts of Kurdistan. Unfortunately, the same situation can currently be observed in South Kurdistan. Many regions have been completely depopulated over the years for the settlement of the Turkish occupation forces by the ruling party, the KDP, which collaborates with Turkish fascism. Since the 1990s, South Kurdistan has been systematically opened to the Turks.

The Turkish state under Erdoğan has maximised its attacks in recent years, obviously with the aim of completing the genocide. While the Turkish state continued its invasion attempts in the guerrilla areas, the establishment of a buffer zone was also planned. This was to extend from Northern Kurdistan to the border of Eastern Kurdistan. In order to realise this, the population was to be displaced by a comprehensive wave of attacks and the region was to be transformed into a purely military area. The Turkish state erected hundreds of kilometres of walls and carried out countless attacks to create a buffer zone 30 kilometres wide. The attacks are continuing on this basis.

The guerrillas were largely able to thwart the attacks through their resistance, but the collaborators did not fail to hand over to the Turkish army on a silver platter each time what they could not manage on their own. Over the past three years, KDP troops have repeatedly personally led the Turkish army into guerrilla areas. Starting from Behdînan, the KDP set up dozens of bases for the Turkish army and began to drive the population out of these areas. In particular, the villages near the guerrilla areas were directly targeted.

Hundreds of villages evacuated

Almost 100 civilians have died in the Turkish state's attacks on these civilian areas. Hundreds of villages have been evacuated and turned into Turkish occupation zones. These areas are closed to the civilian population. Neither the civilian population nor their animals are allowed to come within a few hundred metres of these areas. The most shameful thing is that it is the KDP forces that are denying people access to these areas and ensuring the security of the Turkish bases.

The people who earn their living by growing grapes and gardening in the region are reduced to poverty. They are not allowed to enter their gardens. The people in the region, who have already been in a very precarious economic situation, are facing even more difficulties as a result. While some of them migrate to the cities, the young people try to reach Europe. Many of them die on the way. While the KDP and the Barzani family, who are trying to appropriate every square centimetre of South Kurdistan in the interests of the Turkish state, are getting richer day by day, the people of South Kurdistan are condemned to hunger and misery.

From Behdînan to Bradost

In the last two years, in particular, the Turkish state, with the help of the KDP, has attempted to connect many areas from which the civilian population has been displaced and to create a buffer zone along the border of South Kurdistan. This area stretches from Behdînan to Bradost. Numerous bases have been established along the Amêdîyê front. Although these are ostensibly KDP forces, there are Turkish troops in these bases. The Turkish army, which recently established a new base in the Bradost region, is trying to further increase its activities in this region. It has established many new bases in the Balekayetî region. The KDP forces have made all preparations for this. The Turkish state has also established new bases in the Mehmudiyê region on the borders of Rojava with South Kurdistan as well as on the borders of Zaxo and Batûfa. The aim is to expand this buffer zone and prepare a hinterland for a new invasion operation against Rojava. Those who oppose the occupation are attacked and murdered on the basis of intelligence provided by the KDP troops.

The KDP sacrifices South Kurdistan

At present, attempts are being made to completely encircle the Medya Defence Zones in South Kurdistan and create a military buffer zone with these bases and bases that have already been built before. It is known that in the last two years, runways for the Turkish state's reconnaissance aircraft have been built in the areas controlled by the KDP. Many military land and airborne units used in the invasion attacks against guerrilla areas are deployed from these areas. The KDP is completely sacrificing South Kurdistan to the Turkish occupation just to harm the guerrilla struggle. It is therefore particularly important that all people in South Kurdistan unite and participate together in the Kurdish guerrillas' self-sacrificing struggle for freedom.