President of the Kurdistan Democratic Confederation (KCK) Murat Karayilan set conditions to extend the ceasefire that will last on September 20.President of the KCK Murat Karayilan said that the aim of the ceasefire is to pave the way of a bilateral truce between Turkish state and the PKK.
He demanded the release of the 1700 Kurdish politicians and activists still in jail. Karayilan also said that Turkish state must lay out the framework for Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan's active participation to the peace process
Karayilan labeled 10 percent election threshold as a barrier to Kurdish political parties and called Turkish to lower it.
“If all these conditions are met this process can lead to a sustainable peace” Karayilan said.
Karayilan said the declaration of ceasefire is “a chance for peace”.
Karayilan also called the president of Federal Kurdistan Government Massoud Barzani to take role in peace process and welcomed Barzani’s statements after the declaration of ceasefire.
“This process can move forward if Turkish state and AKP government take steps. If they don’t it will end in a stalemate” Karayilan said.
KARAYILAN:
CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN USE FOR 16 YEARS
19.08.2010- On 18th of August, 2010, the Chairman of the Executive Council of the KCK, Murat Karayilan, answered questions from the ANF news agency regarding the reports in the German media on the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish state.
Karayilan said that the Turkish state army had been using chemical weapons for 16 years now. And, this has again brought to agenda before by a labororatuary in Munich/Germany. He said that Turkey regularly uses chemical weapons in some areas against the guerrillas. This is not something new. The Turkish state army has been using chemical weapons against our guerrilla forces wherever they have got into difficulty against the guerrillas during the clashes since 1994. Even in the spring of 1999, I think it was in May, 20 of our guerrillas under the command of friend Hamza, have been martyred near the village of Bilika/Cudi/Sirnak as a result of the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish state army. After the clashes, our friends found a tube of the chemical that had been used against the guerrillas on the scene where the clashes occurred. This tube was sent to Europe, where I was at that time. So, I personally followed closely on this issue to be analysed in the laboratories. And, we sent it to a lab in Munich, Germany to analyse the contents of the tube. After that, the result of the analysis was that there was a chemical element to effect a certain small area.
So, Germany knows that chemical weapons have been used against the guerrilla forces since that time. What I do not know is why they put this report on the agenda now. And, according to the reports in the press, they even took the case to the German parliament. So, for the last sixteen years there is use of chemical weapons against our guerrillas. Despite the result of the container with the chemical element, no one, including the international forces, either said or did anything about it. Somehow, we could not carry this to the international agenda at the time. Yet, now this has been put onto the agenda in Germany. It has to be followed to see how serious they can be to stay on this case. However, it is a reality that Turkey uses chemical weapons, not everywhere, but wherever they see it is as suitable to use.
KURDIH ASSOCIATIONS IN EUROPE SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC AUTONOMY
18.08.2010- Kurdish organizations in Europe declared support for Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) decision to boycott constitutional referendum on 12 September. At the same time the organizations declared their support to the proposal of a Democratic Autonomy. The proposal is being debated among various circles both in Turkey and Europe. So far it has been discussed especially by Kurdish associations and groups, but interest in the project has already been declared by various institutions and intellectuals in Europe.
Representatives of 228 Kurdish organizations throughout Europe issued a statement in support of BDP's boycott campaign, in Dusseldorf.
At the same press conference the Kurdish organizations also declared their support for Democratic Autonomy as the only method to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish Question.
The Kurdish organizations called on the United Nations, United States, Russia and European Union to contribute to the peace process.