The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) Executive Committee said in a written statement: “Israel has opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza killing scores of Palestinians. We strongly condemn the Gaza massacre and we offer our sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs and the Palestinian people”.

Underlining that the Palestinian-Israeli problem will not be solved by force, the PKK stated: “The declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, ignoring its role as capital of all religions and even mankind, is a provocation, disrespectful to all religions. It appears clear that long standing issue between Palestinians and Israelis cannot be solved by force. This issue should be solved through dialogue and negotiation, because insisting on the use of force does nothing but aggravating the problems. The last massacre has once more showed this reality”.

PKK fought alongside Palestinians in 1982

The PKK statement added: “The Palestinian question is awaiting a solution for almost a hundred years. The Palestinian people and friends all over the world have struggled for the freedom of occupied Palestinian lands. The Palestinian people have fought for their freedom and have also supported the struggle for freedom and democracy elsewhere in the world. The Palestinian people also supported the fight for freedom of the PKK leadership. During the occupation of Lebanon in 1982, 13 distinguished members of the PKK fighters who were fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinians fell martyrs in this war. The solidarity of Kurdish people with the Palestinian people, the Arab people is alive today as it was in yesterday”.

Kurds and Palestinian peoples are similar

The PKK underlined that the Kurdish people share a similar fate with the Palestinian people. The States of Turkey and Israel are both pursuing a “genocidal colonialism”, the statement added and it continued:

“The Kurdish people and the Palestinian people share a similar fate. Despite the great struggle Kurds and Palestinians carry out, Turkey and Israel, thanks to external support, keep violating the basic rights of Kurdish and Palestinian peoples, and to implement their genocidal colonialism.

Turkey has actually learned the most complex techniques in the dirty war against the Kurdish people's struggle for freedom from Israel and the United States. The Turkish State and the AKP government have been supported by these countries in their war against Kurds, even if today they share crocodile tears on the massacre of the Palestinian people.

Soon F-35 aircraft to be bought from the United States will be the most concrete proof of this. Turkey has produced the unmanned aerial vehicles that they boast very much about with techniques learned from Israel and the United States.

Kurd-Arab alliance

“The most consistent friends of the Palestinian and Arab peoples in the Middle East are the Kurdish people and the freedom movement under the leadership of the PKK.

The alliance and the common struggle of the Kurdish and Arab peoples will play a historical role in liberating the whole of the peoples of the Middle East.

The solidarity with the Palestinian people showed by the PKK and the martyrs the PKK gave in the war against Israel in 1982 will never be forgotten and the same solidarity and friendship will be shown in the future.

We once again condemn the massacre in Gaza, and we repeat that the struggle of the Palestinian and Kurdish people for freedom will surely triumph against all attacks”.