Iraq News Now

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) no longer has an excuse to use people in the Kurdistan Region, especially after recent events in Shiladze. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi government have to finally come up with a serious solution to this problem in order to ensure people living on border areas no longer suffer the implications of this struggle. And the PKK leadership on Mount Qandil should understand this necessity too.

The PKK has been causing problems for the Kurdistan Region for the past three years. The existence of PKK headquarters in the Kurdistan Region has given Turkey an excuse to launch military operations here. The PKK is also the reason behind waves of people being displaced and killed in bombings across the borders of the Kurdistan Region and Iran. An invader who is also an enemy will kill you regardless of whether he has an excuse to do so. The invader will not miss his chance while the PKK is seen giving him an excuse for doing what he wants to do.

Last year, I traveled through Bakur (northern Kurdistan) because Baghdad’s international flight ban over on the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish cities in Turkey bore traces of destruction and war and the people there looked hopeless and fed up. This was the result of a self-defeating war, known as the Khandaq (Trench) War, waged by the PKK guerrillas hiding among civilians in northern Kurdistan. I visited northern Kurdistan before the Khandaq War was waged and saw these asinine trenches which had turned peoples’ lives into hell. 

Prior to the peace talks stalling, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a serious desire to resolve the problems and end war in Turkey. The majority of northern Kurdistan was officially under the control of the Turkish government, but was practically run by the HDP.

There was a big Kurdish bloc in Turkey’s parliament at the time. Nobody would have believed the Kurds of the north would go back that far. Nobody was also aware of the PKK’s bad ambitions. This led to chaos in Bakur finally and the isolation of Ocalan. The HDP consequently lost everything too, and Selahattin Demirtas was arrested as well. But nothing changed for PKK guerrillas living in Qandil.

In the last quarter of a century, the PKK has done nothing to contribute to security and prosperity for the people of the Kurdistan Region. The PKK has been causing problems on border and disputed areas as well. Through forming proxy parties in the Kurdistan Region and radicalizing its youth, creating instability in Kurdistan. The PKK operating in southern and other parts of Kurdistan, instead of operating in northern Kurdistan, is a waste of resources for the party that has long given up on the four parts of Kurdistan.

For the next phase, Erbil should work on the wellbeing of its people. The time has now come for these people to rest after three years of military operations. For this to happen, there needs to be security in their areas which have been upset by the PKK in recent years. Erbil should no longer let the friends of caves in Qandil continue to spread insecurity. Those pursuing the Kurdish national cause are expected to create good living conditions for their compatriots, not destabilize their lives.