ASO, Kirkuk, Iraq
Feb 5 2008
PKK Leadership Council member Ma’sum Bagok: America and Iran want to
turn Qandil into a conflict ground
PKK Leadership Council member Ma’sum Bagok has stressed that they had
not detected any move indicating that the US intended to send the
[Iranian opposition] Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization to Qandil. He
said he believed that [Turkish Prime Minister] Erdogan government did
not have any political project to resolve the Kurdish question in
Turkey. He called on the Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK] to take responsibility on behalf
all the Kurds.
Guerrillas will not move to Karabakh
Bagok stressed that the PKK did not have any plan to move its forces
to the region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia. He said that most of
the guerrillas were based in Zagros Mountains and the border areas of
north Kurdistan [in Turkey]. He added: "The circulation of such news
comes with a political dimension. Many sides and groups portray the
PKK as having ties with foreign countries, while our strength and
force comes from our own people. The PKK is deeply rooted in and
stems from the people."
Bagok explained that "Turkish politicians had often spread such
propaganda to provoke public opinion in Turkey and depict the PKK as
Turkey’s enemy. Moreover, it is aimed at establishing affiliation
between the PKK and Armenia to incite Turkish chauvinists against the
PKK and Armenia, given the bloody past conflict between Turkey and
Armenia."
Qandil: an arena of conflict between Iran and America
Bagok said that he was unaware of any US intention to bring the
forces of Mojahedin-e Khalq to Mount Qandil. In this context, he
said: "The US wants to use Mount Qandil as a form of pressure against
Iran. In turn, Iran wants to place some extremist fundamentalist
groups here to undermine the security of south Kurdistan [in Iraq],
its achievements as well as the US position there. But whether these
scenarios are true or not, we have not detected any movement in
practice and what is said is no more than the media speculation.
He indicated that Mount Qandil was a strategic highland that has
attracted the interest of many countries.
AKP does not have a project to resolve the Kurdish question
Bagok refuted the news of any secret negotiations between the PKK and
Turkey. He said: "There is not such a thing. It is only media
speculations. But we as the PKK welcome any peace-seeking effort that
aims at finding a just solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey. If
there is such an attempt, we will appreciate it and will take
positive steps from our side to support it."
He said that "until this moment no country or group had approached us
with a political plan to address the Kurdish question".
Bagok expressed scepticism regarding a political project by the
Turkish government aimed at resolving the Kurdish question. He said:
"Although a section of the Kurds have voted for Justice and
Developing Party, AKP, all the Kurds who have become MPs on Erdogan’s
list are only nominal Kurds. They think like the Turks and they have
no passion for the solution of the Kurdish question. They look at the
Kurdish question with a spectacle of a Turkish chauvinist.
Bagok added: Although sometimes Turkish government officials make
statements on the Kurdish issue, in practice, they act contrary to
what they say. Until this moment they do not have any project for the
solution of Kurdish question in Turkey."
South Kurdish parties responsible for all Kurds
This member of the PKK Leadership Council commented on the policies
of Kurdish parties in south Kurdistan saying: "I respect the struggle
and sacrifices of the southern parties [in Iraqi Kurdistan]. But they
must not only think of the interests of their own parties and region.
They must recognize the fact that there are three other parts of
Kurdistan. They must feel responsible towards them too."
Bagok said that many statements and interviews of Kurdistan region
officials have been published in the international media that do not
serve the interests of the Kurdish nation. The people of south are
also not happy about these statements.
He added: "We do not say that the ruling parties of southern
Kurdistan must not have relations with Iran, Turkey and Syria. They
should have, but let it not harm the Kurds of these parts; let them
consider the interests of their own people."
We will lay down our arm but
About Iraqi President Talabani’s suggestion that has often asked the
PKK through media interviews and statements to lay down arms and
engage in political struggle, Bagok said: "In principle we support
this approach ad we are not against it. But the groups that ask us to
give up our weapons and say that the time of armed struggle is over,
must also offer similar proposals to Turkey. They must see both sides
of the equation and problem."
Bagok said that "giving up arms needs favourable conditions. In
return for giving up arms, does the Turkish state have a project to
resolve the Kurdish question?"
He concluded by saying: "The Turkish government does not accept the
Kurdish language, does not recognize the Kurds in its constitution as
a nation, a member of parliament is put to jail for addressing Ocalan
with ‘Mr’. We are prepared to choose a political solution of our
problems if there is the slightest positive indication that Turkey
has a political plan for solving the Kurdish question. But Turkey has
never believed in the language of dialogue."
[translated from Kurdish]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
