Turkey’s Kurdish politicians condemn PKK attacks

By Tanju Ozkaya

ANKARA (AA) – A group of Kurdish politicians are condemning last week’s terrorist PKK attack that killed 16 civilians in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey.

Yavuz Delal, spokesman for the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan for Right, Justice, and Freedom (the AZADI movement), and several Kurdish politicians spoke to Anadolu Agency about the recent spate of deadly PKK attacks in Turkey.

"Now is the time for the Kurdish people to get rid of the PKK," Delal said.

Delal stated that nobody who believes in the value of justice and freedom can define the PKK without using terrorism.

The spokesman stressed that the PKK has been oppressing the Kurdish people and showing reckless disregard for human life.

“The terror carnage in the town of Durumlu [in Diyarbakir’s Sur district] shows us that the prime target of PKK terrorism is the Kurdish people,” Delal said.

He added that the Kurdish people’s preference for peace has been frustrated by the PKK’s terrorist attacks.

PKK terrorists detonated a bomb-laden truck on May 12 in Durumlu, in Diyarbakir’s Sur district, reportedly following an argument with a group of villagers who spotted the vehicle and began to chase it.

The blast killed 16 people and injured 23 others.

Ibrahim Guclu, writer and politician, said that the PKK has been murdering Kurds since the day it was founded.

Guclu stated that the PKK does “not belong to the Kurdish community,” adding that it has been used by actors that do not want to see Turkey take a decisive role in the region.

“After it could not get what it wanted from its battle [in cities], the PKK is conducting a wide-range bloodshed strategy on civilians,” Guclu said.

“Blowing up villagers with a bomb-laden car was an example of this.”

Guclu claimed that the PKK wants to control all the areas where Kurdish people live, adding, “the PKK is the Daesh of Kurds … It is destroying legal groups that disagree with it”.

Kurdish politician Sertac Bucak said, “I strongly condemn the targeting of Kurdish villagers. This incident is unacceptable in any form.”

Bucak called the PKK’s statement after the incident blaming Kurdish villagers who tried to stop the car bomb “strange”.

Bucak stressed that 98 percent of the town’s population voted in last fall’s election for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is accused of being a PKK sympathizer.

Fehmi Isiklar, who in the 1990s served as deputy parliament speaker as well as chair of the legally closed People's Labor Party, stated that he is against actions that target human life.

“I do not accept any excuse that justifies the incident that killed villagers,” Isiklar said.

PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Since then, more than 450 Turkish security personnel have been martyred and over 4,500 PKK terrorists killed.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Ilker Girit contributed to this story from Istanbul.