Kobane connected to Kurdish peace process in Turkey, HDP says

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

The HDP's Pervin Buldan attends a protest in the southern Turkish city of Adana, Oct. 7. DHA Photo

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has said peace is tied to the situation in the Syrian border town of Kobane, which has been under siege from Islamist jihadists for three weeks.

The peace process between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state is directly connected to the developments in Kobane, the HDP said in a statement after a central executive board meeting.

On Oct. 6, the party called for street protests “against ISIL's attacks and the AKP’s stance on Kobane.”

"The attacks on Kobane are nothing more than an attempt to end the Rojava revolution,” said the statement, adding that the HDP and all of its local organizations would "continue to support Rojava and Kobane." 

The HDP also demanded that Turkey end all the support allegedly given to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria.

“A corridor must be open via Turkey to support the self-defense of Kobane and provide humanitarian support to its people,” the statement said.

It also also demanded the recognition of the predominantly Kurdish region of Rojava in northern Syria as a canton.