KCK Executive Council Co-President Cemil Bayık wrote the following in a Kurdish article published in Yeni Özgür Politika and Azadiya Welat newspapers, translated below by ANF English service.

“The partisan press and the AKP officials, especially president Tayyip Erdoğan, speak of the fatherland and the nation every time they open their mouths. As if some entity is out to steal their fatherland off of Turks, and they were waging a holy defense for the fatherland! The world has never seen such immoral reversal of the truth. They burn Kurdish cities to the ground, and at the same time they speak of “some people” wanting to banish Turks.

The Kurdish Freedom Movement has spoken of a common motherland without problematizing Turkey’s political borders. But Tayyip Erdoğan insistently speaks of a “one fatherland”, namely the Turkish fatherland. He sees Kurdistan where Kurds live as a piece of land to be conquered and Turkified. Nobody is invading the Turkish fatherland; but the lands of the Kurds are being burned to the ground, like in an invasion, and the Kurds are faced with a genocidal wish. This is the problem in Turkey. It’s not that some mystery entity is after the Turks’ lands. But there is a problem with the mentality and the politics that creates big problems for Turkey locally and internationally.

Cities are being burned down in Kurdistan, and Turkish flags are hanged everywhere. The soldiers and policemen pushed to their deaths in Kurdistan are presented as heroes who save the fatherland. This is a complete hoax. The AKP government is sending soldiers and policemen to die to keep up their hegemony. The Kurds’ one and only demand is to live a free and democratic life in their own lands with their own language and identity. The Kurds have a right to self-government as much as they had a right to their mother’s milk. Saying they are “turning these lands into the fatherland” by burning down Kurdish cities, killing Kurds indiscriminately, whether they are women, children or elderly, is an admission of the invasive and genocidal colonialist mind and politics.

The ones endangering the Turkish fatherland and Turkey are the current mindset, politics and government. Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP government have not comprehended the law of the Turks living in these lands and making these lands their fatherland. He hasn’t grasped the law of the Turks living in these lands and prospering, even as much as the Ottoman sultans he speaks of so frequently. On the contrary, he is dragging Turkey into great dangers by going against the law of the Kurds living in these lands.

Leader Apo had stated that Turks acted together with Kurdish people in 1071, 1514-16-17 and during the 1920s, and their advance in Europe and the Middle East was made possible with the good relations with Kurds. He had said that Turks became a power in this geography when they established good relations with Kurds, and this dialectic of power got reversed when they fought against Kurdish people. Now, is it the Kurds or the AKP government and its fascist allies that betray history? It is clear that those that have launched a war against Kurdish people are those that have betrayed the history of Turkey regarding the relations between Kurds and Turks. It is those that view the lands of Kurds as places to invade. Tayyip Erdoğan, state forces, AKP members and the partisan press are trying to hide this truth and the crimes they have been committing against the peoples of Turkey.

If anyone is acting like the enemies of Turkey would, it is Tayyip Erdoğan, state forces and their fascist allies. Only the enemies of Turkey would like to wage a war against Kurdish people in this way. Those that deny the existence of Kurdish people and their free and democratic life are very pleased now. If anyone is exposing Turkey to danger, it is Tayyip Erdoğan and state forces.

Kurds will not give up on their identity, culture, and free and democratic life. Tayyip Erdoğan and state forces can never destroy Kurdish people completely, so the current policies mean the end of Turkey. Tayyip Erdoğan and state forces received the support of certain powers in their destruction of Kurdish cities, but in exchange for what? The government is not able to answer this question, and has become the puppet of certain powers. No matter how much they speak of patriotism, they are the one exposing Turkey to danger. Enver, Talat and Cemal pashas thought of themselves as patriotic too, what ended up happening? Will they be judged based on their thoughts, or the consequences of their actions?

Today, Tayyip Erdoğan has become Enver Pasha in Turkey and is trying to make himself the leader of the Turkic world. He has exposed Turkey to great dangers with his chauvinist, nationalist and sectarian policies. Enver Pasha got on the Ottoman horse but ended up bringing the end of the Ottomans. Today, Tayyip Erdoğan and state forces are on the Turkey horse and are about to bring the end of Turkey.

Patriotism in Turkey is not using the country’s resources for hegemony and making the enemies of Turkey happy. Patriotism in Turkey is preventing the hysterical and impertinent government and making Turkey the shared and democratic country of all peoples.

History is not only the past but also today. Everyone should have a look at the history and dialectic of the relations between Kurds and Turks, and decide then how the future should be. ”