Referring to the arrest of 82 prominent Kurdish politicians by the Turkish police, Hekmat Sarbiland, the President General of the Kurdistan Islamic Party (PÎK), told KurdPress in an interview that: “The ruling party (AK Party) and its partner, the Turkish Nationalist Party (MHP), have begun a political clearing and have imprisoned 82 famous Kurdish politicians, including a number of former HDP MPs, without any explanation.”

He continued: "There are no civil rights for Kurds in Turkey. They attack the lives and property of the Kurds as they want and kill whoever they like to so that they have even won the support of racists to put pressure on the Kurds."

He added: "It is clear that whenever the Turkish government is in trouble it attacks the Kurds in order to silence the voice of the opposition and to control the political atmosphere with a policy of annihilation and repression."

The (PÎK) president general added that the ruling party is looking for an excuse to repress the Kurds: "The issue of support and demonstrations for Kobani (a Syrian Kurdish city) is the only excuse for repressing the Kurds and the opposition, and this is the political game through which Erdogan seeks the support of Turkish racists.”

The terrorist group of the Islamic State (ISIS) slaughtered over 200 people in 2014 in Kobani, located on the Turkish-Syrian border, in one of their biggest massacres of civilians in the Syrian civil war.

The massacre sparked deadly protests across 30 cities in Turkey, directed against the Turkish government for what Kurds perceived as collaboration with the ISIS.

"We have to accept that Turkey does not believe in civil rights. They arrested and imprisoned the mayor of Qars under the false pretexts while he took part in Turkey elections under Turkish law. Anyone who is guilty or in violates the law cannot participate in elections. So these are all plots to remove the Kurds from the political arena,” the party leader further told KurdPress.

Hekmat Sarbiland stated: “Turkey is in economic crisis and the exchange rate is increasing every day against the national currency and people are in a difficult situation in the wake of the covid-19. The government is unable to manage the situation and wants to control the opposition through arrests and imprisonment and remove the opposition from the political scene by labeling them as terrorists.”

The politicians stressed: "The Kurds are following the policy of reconciliation and democracy and are seeking their rights in peaceful and democratic ways, but the government has taken the path of confrontation and its goal is quite clear."

Referring to the policy of calling the oppositions as terrorists by the ruling party, the president general of the (PÎK) said: "This is the most specific policy of Erdogan and the ruling movements. They want to stop and ignore the rights of the other parties through the policy. It is for years that they label the Kurds as terrorists so that their rights are prevented. This is a fascist policy and completely inhumane.”

Hekmat Sarbiland added: "This is a black policy that prevents Turks from getting closer to the Kurds. Recently, the Kurdish movements wanted to get closer to the Turkish opposition and form a coalition, but the government has legitimized the policy of eliminating the Kurds by calling them terrorists."

The Secretary General of the Kurdistan Islamic Party (PÎK) stated that Turkey's macro-policy in the region is in crisis and stressed: "Turkey is pursuing a policy of neo-Ottomanism in the region and is attacking Syria and Iraq for this purpose, but this policy is declining and is in crisis. Turkey has opened another front in the White Sea, Libya and Azerbaijan, and has suffered defeats there as well, and countries such as France, Egypt, Greece and some Arab countries have also taken sides against the Turkish policies.”

Hekmat Sarbiland added: "Turkey is increasing the pressure on the Kurds wherever it fails, and these are all the products of the wrong policies of the AKP and Erdogan. The AKP's power is over."

He reminded that the Kurds in Turkey want to have the voice of the internal oppositions and have their support.

Reporter’s code: 50101