In an interview with David Meseguer for Haaretz newspaper, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-president Bese Hozat spoke about the Turkish state's war against the Kurdish people, the upcoming referendum of April 16, relationships between Ankara and South Kurdistan's KDP.

Bese Hozat answered a question regarding the strong possibility of a Turkish ground operation against the PKK in South Kurdistan after the recent aerial attacks on Qandil that targeted the cemetery of martyrs and demolished the nearby guesthouse that was left a mound of rubble, amid photographs and charred memories.

“There is such a possibility because an operation against Qandil has been on the agenda for a long time,” she said.

Mentioning the AKP-MHP alliance that has grown stronger ahead of the referendum, Hozat said: “There is now a process for a constitutional referendum, and the AKP and MHP fascist groups want to conduct a cross-border operation in order to take the nationalist Turkish votes. The AKP-MHP coalition wants to formalize a one-man dictatorship through this referendum.” She stressed that the Kurds will say no to this dictatorship regime.

Regarding Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan's claims that Shengal was about to become the “second Qandil” for the PKK, Hozat remarked that: “Ankara has already invaded South Kurdistan, an invasion that has economic, politic and military aspects. We are ready to carry out a very strong defense against the invasive policies of the Turkish government.”

With regard to the collapse of the two-year cease-fire between Ankara and the PKK in July 2015, a month after the presidential election where Erdogan did not win an absolute majority, Hozat said the reconciliation process in Turkey failed “because Abdullah Öcalan’s democratic proposals were rejected by the Turkish government.”

She underlined that: “Turkey wanted the PKK to lay down its arms without giving the Kurds anything following a policy of elimination against the Kurdish freedom movement under the name of a solution. When the PKK rejected such an elimination project, fighting continued.”

Hozat added: “Against all these practices the PKK has been waging a legitimate self-defense armed struggle. The fascism of the AKP-MHP coalition is waging genocide against the Kurds. They have destroyed many Kurdish cities and killed a lot of Kurds.”

Commenting on last year's conflict process in Kurdish towns where people led by youth mounted self-governance resistance, and which was harshly met by the Turkish state with an all-out attack, causing a total demolition of towns and displacement of locals, Hozat said: “In an attempt to change the demographic map of the Kurdish cities, they are evacuating the Kurdish people and they are replacing them with the families that have an ISIS mentality.”

Hozat continued, evaluating the recent developments in Turkey where tens of thousands were jailed in the wake of the failed 2016 military coup, 13 Kurdish opposition politicians, including the co-leaders of the HDP were imprisoned and 82 DBP-held municipalities were usurped by the government:

“Europe is responsible for the rise of fascism in Turkey because this silence and indifference are indirect support for Turkish policies.”

Concerning the worsening women’s rights in Turkey under Erdoğan's rule, Hozat pointed out that: “With the rise of the AKP, male domination of culture and political life has increased sharply. As the society grows more conservative, the level of crime against women increases. We can observe that in the high level of rape, harassment and also suicides. The AKP government is trying to form a fundamentalist and religious society based on enmity towards women.”

Regarding the situation in Syria and Rojava, Bese Hozat emphasised that: “Turkey is doing its politics and diplomacy based on enmity towards Rojava. Ankara defines YPG as a terrorist organization, and they want this attitude adopted by the entire world.”

She said the world knows that the YPG /YPJ are very strong forces that are defending human values, but it’s always possible that some hypocrite and two-faced states may try to adopt the policies of Turkey against Rojava and the Kurds.

KCK Executive Council Co-President Bese Hozat added that: “If those countries are sincerely against ISIS, they should give full support to the YPG/YPJ and invite Kurds to the next peace talks.”