Turkey: Kurdish umbrella group calls on KDP to cease "destructive role"

The co-chair of a Kurdish umbrella organization in Turkey warned against infighting among Kurds and called on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Iraqi Kurdistan's ruling party, "to keep away from the destructive role it played."

Berdan Ozturk, the co-chair of Democratic Society Congress (DTK), spoke on Friday in Turkey's Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir at a meeting held by several Kurdish organizations including DTK, Democratic Region's Party (DBP), Free Women's Movement (TJA), Peace Mothers Assembly and the Federation of Associations for Solidarity with Prisoners.

Noting that Kurdish people was now at a cross road of both historical opportunities and great perils, Ozturk said:

"This moment requires each one of us to hold on to our accomplishments and our freedom. Everybody who see themselves as part of our people's efforts to step onto the stage of history have the obligation to act accordingly."

He went on to say that Kurds in various countries "were under intense attacks," adding:

"We do not accept the possibility of an infighting among Kurds when global and regional powers are trying to undermine their achievements."

Warning against "fratricide," he said:

"Those who will suffer the greatest losses at the end of a fratricide will be the Kurdish people and everybody who take part in the pro-Kurdish political struggle. We particularly call on KDP, who for a long time has been acting as an ally of Turkey and who has been providing support for the anti-Kurdish policies of AKP [Justice and Development Party], to assume responsibility and to keep away from the destructive role it has played."