PKK’s urban wing vows to support 'democratic protests'

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Police resorted to tear gas and water cannons after protesters refused to disperse from Kızılay Square in Ankara Sept.10. DAILY NEWS photo/ Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s urban wing has vowed to support the “democratic protests across the country” that started at Taksim Gezi Park in May while demanding a week-long mass protest starting Sept. 16 to demonstrate against the lack of education in Kurdish.

The Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), the urban wing of PKK, said in a statement on Sept. 11 that they would force the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to take steps in the democratization process by supporting the protests across the country.

The KCK said it would support the “democratic forces’ struggle in Turkey” and “side with the democracy and freedom” struggle against the “attack on the opposition in Turkey,” said the statement.

“The people’s democratic struggle in Turkey and the Kurdish people’s struggle for democracy and freedom will be united,” said the statement, vowing to continue the struggle until the government takes “serious steps at democratization and solves the Kurdish problem.”

The statement referred to the police intervention into the protests, as well as the Sept. 10 death of a 22-year-old protester in Hatay, Ahmet Atakan, while accusing the government of creating “a police state.”

The KCK also called on people to boycott schools for the first week of the education year, which will start on Sept. 16, in order to draw attention to their demand to “open institutions and schools in Kurdish language.”

“Families should not send their children to schools for a week. All families and children should hold protests in front of the provincial directorates of national education offices in each province with slogans of ‘we want education in mother tongues,’” said the statement. It also said that all the people in the region “regardless of their political views” should support these protests.