HDP leader says gov’t eager to declare war against Syrian Kurds

ANKARA

DHA photo

The government apparently isn’t satisfied with ongoing conflict in the country and seems to be eager to declare war against the Syrian Kurdish region, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said.

“We are face to face with deaths and war, with this bitter truth every day. This doesn’t seem sufficient; the government must not be satisfied with that,” Demirtaş told reporters on Oct. 27, adding the government wanted to “make the situation convenient to virtually declare war” on the Syrian Kurdish region. 

“[Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu is making proud statements that there have been attacks and interventions directed there [the Syrian Kurdish region] on the eve of the [Nov. 1 snap] elections. I want to state that it is a shame,” he said, referring to a statement by Davutoğlu late on Oct. 26, when the prime minister said Turkey had struck Kurdish militia fighters in Syria twice after they defied Ankara’s warning not to cross west of the Euphrates River. 

“We have said ‘The [Democratic Union Party] PYD will not cross west of the Euphrates, we would hit them the moment they do’ and we have struck them twice,” Davutoğlu told A Haber Television, without specifying an exact date for the incident. 

Ankara has said Syria’s PYD and its armed link, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), are affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and they should be designated a terrorist organization like the PKK.

“While the PYD hasn’t carried out any threat against Turkey and while the Syrian Kurds have been extending their hands of fraternity and peace to Turkey, Davutoğlu’s consideration of the PYD as a threat instead of considering [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL as a threat there is a shame for him,” Demirtaş said, while cautioning that not everybody would bend to Davutoğlu’s will.