A seminar titled 'Kurds as a regional factor in the fight against ISIS' was held at the Cultural Diplomacy Institute in German capital Berlin yesterday.

'WE UNDERSTOOD PKK BETTER AFTER THE ISIS ATTACK'

Speaking at the seminar, German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko stated on behalf of the Left Party (Die Linke), the leading opposition party in the German Federal Parliament, that they stood with the Kurds in their battle against the ISIS.

Recalling the genocide perpetrated by ISIS in Shengal in 2014, Hunko said the following:

“We were terrified by that genocide and we understood much better the struggle given by PYD and PKK then. We brought up this issue at the German parliament several times and discussed it in detail. Not only we as Germany but the whole world understood the power and importance of Kurdish fighters.

In the autumn of 2014, the German government decided to provide arms to the Kurds fighting ISIS. However, no weapons were given to YPG, the basic force fighting ISIS. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Commission, I brought up this topic several times, stressing that this was unacceptable. It is a big contradiction that Germany, one of the countries with the highest rate of arms production and a part of the international coalition, has not given arms to the YPG.”

“WHY IS THE INFORMATION AT İNCİRLİK GIVEN TO TURKEY?”

Hunko recalled that Germany dispatched Tornado reconnaissance aircraft to İncirlik and AWACS aircraft to Konya within the scope of the anti-ISIS fight following the Paris attacks in 2015, and continued;

“This aircraft regularly monitors Rojava and Syrian airspace, obtains photos and video footage and these are later shared with the coalition countries under the name of fight against ISIS. Turkey is among these countries. I do not understand at all why this information is shared with Turkey. Besides, we have serious doubts that Turkey gives this information to ISIS. We asked this question to the Merkel government but we did not receive any response to relieve our doubts.”

Hunko criticized that YPG is given no place in the international area although it gives the most effective fight against ISIS on the ground, adding; “Kurdish representatives must be at the table at Geneva and Astana talks. Fight against ISIS can be strengthened only in this way.”

MOSLEM: ISIS PARTICULARLY CHOSE KURDISTAN

Speaking after, PYD Co-president Saleh Moslem put emphasis on the importance of the diplomacy culture in a war against extremist ideas, and thanked everyone that contributed to the organization of the seminar, the Kurdish Diplomacy Institute in the first place.

“For a long time, I was of the opinion that ISIS chose Kurdistan just to attack because Kurdistan and Mesopotamia houses ancient peoples that have co-existed peacefully for many years. These lands have a potential to house pluralist democracy. This is what they were afraid of, and why they attacked.

ISIS bases on two basic approaches; the first one is ideological and the second is a religious basis. They were very much afraid of the gender equality, democracy of peoples and unity of society. Using religion as a political instrument, ISIS wanted to wipe out this cultural-political background by turning the region into a ring of fire.

We are not only fighting ISIS but also working to create a free society. Besides YPG and YPJ, people are also organizing themselves in a system of self-defense. The only way to fight ISIS is to be a political society and ensure the protection of that society through political instruments. In the direct democracy/radical democracy model we are founding, the society has an increased awareness of self-defense. After witnessing the ISIS attacks in Europe, we propose this model for the European peoples as well.”

“WE DEMAND AN END TO THE BAN ON OUR FLAGS”

Moslem remarked that the so-called opposition groups such as Free Syrian Army and Jabhat al-Nusra are no different from ISIS in ideological terms, adding; “It is unacceptable that these groups are supported by some of the countries from the global coalition against ISIS.”

Calling attention to the presence of lots of evidences on Turkey's support for ISIS, Moslem said: “We shared these evidences with many sides from the international coalition. Turkey's sole goal is to wipe out the Kurdish free society by using ISIS.”

Regarding the German government's ban on PYD, YPG and YPJ flags, Moslem said: “This ridiculous ban is unfair not only to the Kurds but also to the German people and all humanity. We demand an immediate removal of this ban.”