Senior PKK official commends Turkish opposition solidarity with removed Kurdish mayors

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A senior Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) official has praised the reaction of Turkish opposition parties to the state-enforced removal of three Kurdish mayors as an “important” recognition of political crackdown in the country.

Bese Hozat co-leader of the Kurdistan Communities Group (KCK) - an umbrella group of parties close to and including the PKK - said in a televised interview with the PKK-affiliated Sterk TV on Tuesday that the opposition parties stood up to the “fascist politics” of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

“Following the invasion of Amed [Diyarbakir], Van and Mardin municipalities, you saw the reaction in Istanbul, Izmir and everywhere in Turkey of a democratic community who are smart and understand the fascist politics of the AKP and MHP. This is an important thing. They raised their voices,” said Hozat.

Turkish interior ministry sacked three Kurdish mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on August 19 for alleged PKK ties. They were accused of using the cities’ budget in the service of the group.

Several Turkish opposition parties have heeded an HDP call to “speak up” after the crackdown, while members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) visited the detained mayors on August 25.

Speaking from an unspecified location on Qandil Mountains, Hozat said that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Saadet (Felicity) Party and “somewhat” the nationalist IYI (Good) Party “realize that the issue is not only about the extermination of Kurds but also that this governance is worried about [the danger] on its rule rather than the future of Turkey or its people.”

“They see that if Kurdistan is so now, the same thing will reach Istanbul, Ankara, Mersin, Antalya, Adana and elsewhere. They [opposition] will lose all their achievements,” stressed Hozat, referring to the victory of the CHP in three metropolises of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir in the latest local election. 

The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. It has been involved in a nearly four decade-long, often armed conflict with the Turkish state, resulting in the death of more than 40,000 people, including civilians.

Displays of solidarity towards the HDP by other Turkish opposition groups have been met with sharp criticism by the AKP.

Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu warned Istanbul’s CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who visited the deposed HDP mayors on September 1, that he will “rag” him for overstepping his role as mayor.

“We respect you if you do your work but if you do things outside your work we will rag you,” he said, accusing Imamoglu of having a friendly relationship with an HDP “which does not call the PKK a terrorist organization.”

Two days earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Imamoglu of being “hand in hand with those involved with terror,” in reference to the HDP.

“If someone does not express his position on a terrorist organization they cannot be mayors, and not politicians at all,” he said at an event in Konya on Saturday.

Imamoglu defended his meetings with the democratically elected Kurdish mayors in response to Erdogan the next day, saying he is simply fighting “anti-democracy” institutions.

“If you strengthen the democracy, you will weaken anti-democracy institutions and organizations. This is what we are doing,” he said.