‘AKP/MHP government targets Kurds’

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Ankara Provincial Co-Chair Vezir Coşkun Parlak said that the government constantly marginalizes the Kurdish people by declaring them “terrorists”.

Co-chair Parlak remarked that the racist attacks on the Kurdish people are not sporadic but a state policy. The Kurdish people should be organized against these attacks and they can ward off these attacks by acting in solidarity, according to Parlak.

Interviewed by ANF, Parlak noted that there have been many racist attacks against the HDP and the Kurdish people in recent period, and pointed to the historical process and background of these racist attacks. He emphasized that the policy of denial, destruction, genocide and assimilation has been going on for the last 100 years. “The Kurdish people want to embrace their own identity and culture wherever they go, but when they express it, they are subjected to attacks. The current government is constantly marginalizing the Kurdish people by accusing them of being terrorists.”

‘THEY DON’T WANT DEMOCRACY’

Parlak recalled that all governments in Turkey resort to racist rhetoric and nationalism when they are in trouble. “They have already consumed the nationalism they created in Central Anatolia. They are constantly trying to keep nationalism alive by giving the names of people who were involved in the dirty war to bridges and schools. When different identities and groups organized together with the HDP, it made them disturbed. They could not come to terms with the June 7 elections. They do not want democracy to be promoted in this country. Therefore, they want to fight against the Kurds, to encourage attacks on the Kurdish people and to continue their existence through further escalations.”

For Parlak, as long as the government allows hate speech in the media, attacks like those in Konya, Afyon and Çorum, will continue. He said that serious human rights violations are not taken into account because there is no justice and legal authority.

ISOLATION SPREADS TO PRISONS

“There are arbitrary practices towards Kurdish political prisoners. Moreover, the aggravated isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison also encourages attacks against the Kurdish people,” Parlak noted.

KURDISH PEOPLE SHOULD BE ORGANIZED

HDP Ankara Provincial Co-Chair stressed that the AKP-MHP fascist government engorges itself on the attacks against the Kurdish people, adding that the only way to eliminate these attacks is to organize a struggle.

“If there is no organization, there will be more attacks. We should keep denouncing racism. Our people should act together everywhere, and it is important that we maintain relations in places where our HDP provincial and district organizations are located. We need each other.”