PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) Executive Committee Member Duran Kalkan spoke to News Channel TV about the current situation and latest developments in Turkey and Kurdistan.

Second part of highlights from Kalkan’s interview is as follows:

Erdoğan travelled from country to country in May to garner support for his Kurdish genocide, but he couldn’t find any in any of the countries he visited. The US was particularly interesting. What did the US mean when they reminded Turkey that the country is a NATO member and had a role in the special war? What were the repercussions of this meeting for you?

We stressed two points before the referendum. We said, “If the outcome is ‘yes’, fascism, oppression and tyranny the people experience will increase, but to the outside world Erdoğan will make a U-turn.” We stated that the challenging and the bullying would be abandoned, and he would start to beg. That is indeed what has happened. All kinds of tyranny, surpassing even the September 12 fascism and Saddam’s dictatorship, is being implemented. To the outside world, they have launched the begging policies. From Russia to Europe, that is the case for the AKP. The AKP media talk of “messages and warnings”, but there are no messages or warnings, there is haggling and begging.

He is trying to cover up the fascism, tyranny and the genocide he implements inside the country and to gather more support, to get himself approved to implement even more. In this sense, his is the perfect merchant’s logic. He has put forth everything Turkey has, put everything on the market. As long as it’s against the Kurds, he is ready to make any concessions. He says, “Don’t speak up against the Kurdish genocide, accept it, and I will give you whatever you want.” All that Turkey has has been put on the market to this end. This is what lies underneath the negotiations with the US, Russia and China. In essence, this is what lies underneath the negotiations with Europe as well. Negotiations over the Kurds have continued for over 150 years. The existence and the freedom struggle of the Kurds has been put on the market, and current statist powers are out shopping. The US, and especially Europe, have a big part in this. We don’t know what the US got from Turkey in their last meeting. The US needs the Kurds in Rojava for the Raqqa struggle against ISIS. So, they might have told Turkey to not object to that, and they will support whatever Turkey does to Kurds in Bakur.

Isn’t this a little bit reminiscent of the Mosul-Kirkuk deal during WWI?

Yes. This is a negotiation over Kurds. The system of denial and annihilation for the Kurd is such a trap. It is a system built over negotiation and mutual profit of statist powers. They are playing a game, that is the gist of it. “You can do anything you want to the PKK, but don’t say anything about YPG!”

YPG, YPJ, PYD flags have been banned in Germany. Because Erdoğan went to Europe and they negotiated. One should ask the German government what they received for it in return? What economic, political gain did Tayyip Erdoğan provide for you to ban the YPJ? Then they should put up ISIS flags on the streets of Germany! And the German administration could march with ISIS flags. On one hand they say they are fighting ISIS, but on the other, with the Incirlik negotiation or economic, political and military negotiations, they have been sacrificing the existence and the freedom of peoples for years. They become complicit in the genocide the administration perpetuates in Turkey, they allow it.

There was an ISIS attack in the UK 5 days ago. But before that, Turkey had improved their relationship with the UK. A woman is heading the UK now, and the biggest struggle protecting the British people as well from ISIS has been waged by the Kurdish women. But the same Kurdish women have their homes demolished in Sur, Cizre and Nusaybin. What does Theresa May think of this? They are in alliance with those who destroy Kurdish women’s homes in Cizre and Sur. They are negotiating with them. There is a negotiation for their own profit. The US is the same, the UK and Germany they are all this way.

But the YPJ commanders had been welcomed in the Élysée Palace in France. What happened? If ISIS is ended tomorrow, will the Kurds go back to being banned? Some say, “YPG and YPJ shouldn’t be on the terror list, but the PKK could be.” What is the difference between the YPG and the PKK? Both are fighting ISIS fascism.

You can’t have relationships and alliances with fascism and genocide. You stand against fascism. Like they took a stance against Saddam, they should take a similar stance against Tayyip Erdoğan. You can’t reconcile with Hitlerism. That reconciliation brings the annihilation of the Kurd. A people being subjected to genocide can’t be overlooked. That can’t be politics, that is straight up profit relations. If today you build your alliance over the annihilation of some, then tomorrow others will build alliances over your annihilation. That is dangerous, shouldn’t come to pass and should be abandoned.

Everybody should object to the Tayyip Erdoğan-Devlet Bahçeli fascism, and the fascist genocide it projects on to the peoples of Turkey, and the Kurdish people in particular. Those who don’t object today will be harmed by this fascism tomorrow. ISIS carries out attacks in Europe. Who is ISIS? Who is controlling them? Didn’t Tayyip Erdoğan threaten Europe, saying “I can attack you anywhere with ISIS”? Europe shouldn’t forget. Their relationship with Turkey is not the same as before right now. There is a serious conflict at the same time. But they are trying to reconcile this conflict over being anti-PKK. Among themselves, they can do whatever they like. But they should stop negotiating over the PKK and the Kurds.

All the world is locked on to Raqqa now. The Democratic Syrian Forces are advancing towards ISIS stronghold Raqqa. How can the developments in the Middle East change with the liberation of Raqqa? What effect could this have over Middle Eastern affairs?

New developments can happen soon. Because the SDF’s Raqqa operation is successfully underway. The hard parts are being overcome. Tabqa was one of the most important places for Raqqa, now that that’s been overcome, the Raqqa operation can advance faster. But there are forces trying to prevent ISIS’ downfall in Raqqa. For instance, the AKP-MHP government is like this. That is why they bombed Shengal and Rojava. And before that, the AKP administration made KDP attack Shengal. They themselves attacked Manbij to threaten the US. When they failed there, they carried out aerial attacks on Shengal and the YPG-YPJ headquarters. Despite this, the Raqqa operation continues now. This should be appreciated. It is important that the YPG and the SDF successfully continue the struggle against ISIS in determination despite Turkey’s attacks.

The noose is tightening around ISIS. There are also plans to clear ISIS from some cities and towns in Iraqi territory. The US is understood to be in support of this. In this case, ISIS can be reduced even further. Their influence can be broken, and they could even experience a breakdown. That would create a new situation. New analyses will emerge. This is what is beneath many of the talks. Tayyip Erdoğan is travelling the world this much to not be pushed out of the political foundation in case of such a development.

It is not clear if the US-Iran tensions will get deeper, or a reconciliation will emerge over Syria after Raqqa. Both options are possible. What is important here is that democratic forces develop their union further, use their strength better to create the Democratic Syria and grow their initiative. They should expand their area of influence with their own strength. Because there can be dangerous negotiations and calculations. There is talk of some clashing groups in Syria, but they have no influence. Even the Assad regime’s influence is debatable. Iran and Russia do have influence. In the current state of Syria, the only force with military and political will is the SDF.

After the Raqqa operation is successful, could the Democratic Syrian Federation achieving a status come to the table?

The only force with a will in Syria is the Democratic Syrian Federation. And then we have the will of the regional and global powers. It is unclear what negotiations will come after Raqqa is liberated. The Syrian Democratic Forces should see this. And because of this, they should increase their influence much further. They should grow their leading forces and spread their democratic alliances more over the rest of Syria. They should be spending efforts to create relationships and alliances with forces that want the unity of Democratic Syria. Syria’s own inner dynamics should go into action, if they fail to do this, regional and global interest powers could hold any kind of negotiations over Syria, and they can divide Syria up in new alliances. New games and conflicts may come up targeting democratic Syria.

The fight against ISIS continues, and will continue. The current powers can’t be expected to create alliances easily. If they could reach a result in the Syrian issue easily with negotiations, they would have done so already. Their interests aren’t so much overlapping as conflicting. This is an advantage and an opportunity for the Syrian Democratic Forces. In this sense, it is important that they develop the fight against ISIS into a stronger and more influential struggle on one hand and at the same time work on the political and social arenas to create the Democratic Syria, and try to activate the inner dynamics. The forces of the world and the region intervening in Syria are weak. One shouldn’t be fooled by them talking too much and having large military forces. It is hard for them to create unity over Syria. Because they can’t find a solution in the Middle East. Under these circumstances, it is hard for them to find a Syrian solution on their own. The solution will come through local dynamics and the Syrian Democratic Forces in particular.