Iraqi Kurd Newspaper Interviews PKK Commander in Qandil Mountains
Text of interview by Frman Abdulrahman and Sirwan Rashid with PKK Leadership Council member Nowruz Jarand, headlined: “We are prepared to receive the Red Cross…”, published by Iraqi independent daily newspaper Rozhnama on 28 October
She is 33 years old and has been working with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] for nearly 14 years. When she first joined the PKK she was a College of Medicine student. She went through all the political stages of the party and took part in many battles. She is now a member of the PKK Leadership Council. In the village of Lewzhey in the Qandil mountains, in a room where there were only two chairs and a picture of Abdullah Ocalan, she earnestly expressed her willingess to talk to us. Nowruz, throughout the interview, constantly kept an eye on her rifle. Nowruz, who sacrificed her social life for her political beliefs, would always say, “I am wedded to this rifle at my hand”. On a visit paid by Rozhnama to the Qandil mountains last Friday [26 October], Nowruz Jarand shed light on the latest PKK developments and preparations for any possible Turkish offensive. Regarding the eight Turkish soldiers captured by the PKK, she announced: We do not want to use them in any political bargaining. She also revealed to Rozhnama the damage that the Turkish army suffered during the last month.
[Question] As for the latest developments about the Turkish threats, how are you going to face up to Turkey and the current crisis?
[Answer] I want to say that the goal of any Turkish military incursion into the Kurdistan Region is not only to deal a blow to the PKK. We have made our preparations for this scenario, both politically and militarily. All sides must know that the PKK is not the sole goal of any Turkish military attack. Southern Kurdistan [Iraqi Kurdistan Region], the entire Kurdish struggle and the Kurdish people will be targeted by any Turkish attack. The Turkish government has been making economic, military and political preparations for this military incursion for more than a year. It does not give the right to education, politics and life to the Kurds. There are 21 Kurdish lawmakers that have become MPs in the recent Turkish parliamentary elections. But the Turkish politicians are trying to marginalize them. They face trial for the simplest statements they make. They [Turkish politicians] by no means accept Kurdish politicians. It [Turkey] practises the same policy with southern Kurdistan. Just note that it has never invited Iraqi President Talabani [to visit Turkey]. It invites his aides, but it is not prepared to see Talabani. This has to do with the fact that Turkey does not want to see any Kurdish politicians. This is their political agenda: not to deal with any Kurdish politicians. They have many intelligence activities in southern Kurdistan, the most appalling was the Sinjar bombing which claimed a big number of Kurdish victims. This only aims at frightening the Kurdish people and inciting disorder in southern Kurdistan. The Turkish intelligence service, Meet, have a presence even in Kirkuk. They carry out activities to disrupt the public security of that city. This is because they do not want the referendum to be held in Kirkuk. Turkey has already agreed with Iran and Syria to carry out this military operation. Turkey is also trying to distract the European Union and attract their attention to something else, so that it can have a logical excuse to attack southern Kurdistan; and the excuse is the PKK. Therefore, the issue is not only to do with the PKK; the goal of Turkey is the experiment of southern Kurdistan, it wants to plague it with crises. If the PKK had not been in existence, it would have used the Turkoman minority as an excuse.
[Question] The [Kurdistan] Regional Government accuses the PKK of jeopardizing the experiment of the Kurdistan Region, they ask you to leave Kurdistan territories. What do you think of that?
– On the contrary, the PKK has never harmed the Kurds. We settled in the Qandil mountains before the formation of the Regional Government. We, as the PKK, look at the parts of Kurdistan as being the land of the Kurds, without discrimination. We have settled in the Qandil mountains since 1982. The PKK has been in this area for 25 years. Not only the PKK, even Sharafkanid and Qasmlou have been in this area. As I said earlier, Turkey does not accept the Kurds. Regardless of the PKK being here or not, it would have launched its operation. I believe the issue of Kirkuk has irked Turkey more than the PKK has done. Erdogan, himself, has asked many times that the referendum in Kirkuk must not be held and the Turkish government has expressed concern over Article 140 and they publicly declare that Kirkuk is not a Kurdish city and must not be annexed to the Kurdistan Region. Indeed, the Kirkuk issue is a sensitive one; not only Turkey fights for Kirkuk, all the world fights for Kirkuk; the US, Iran and Syria and many other countries want to have an option in deciding the fate of that city.
[Question] Can you tell us about the damage you and Turkey suffered in the recent battles, mainly, those fought in October?
[Answer] In the latest battle that took place in the early evening of last Wednesday [24 October], eight Turkish soldiers were killed in a tough fighting in the Darsim area. Earlier, 35 Turkish soldiers were also killed and eight others were captured in Diyarbakir. Nearly 80 Turkish soldiers were killed in October. In all these battles, only eight PKK guerrillas were killed, with one captured by the Turkish soldiers after he had been injured.
[Question] Will you use the eight Turkish POWs as a political card to put pressure on the Turkish government in order to realize your demands?
[Answer] First and foremost I would like to say that no violence at all was used against those POWs and they have not been treated inhumanely at all. Those soldiers are POWs, they are not hostages for us to ask for a certain thing in return. We treat them as international law dictates regarding the treatment of POWs. Turkey, itself, wants us or would like us to kill them so that it can say that the PKK is a terrorist and vicious organization. For example, since those soldiers have been captured by the PKK as POWs, Turkey has intensified its attacks and launched artillery and air strikes against the villages of southern Kurdistan. The Turkish government does not pay any attention at all to the health condition and the fate of its soldiers. Our comrades made the news of those eight POWs public, but Turkey said it was not true. Then we published their names, but they still kept silent. Then we even published their photos, they still did not react at all. This weakens the pretexts of Turkey that they have started their military operations, allegedly, because of the 13 Turkish soldiers that were killed at the hands of our guerillas in an attack by our forces in Shirnakh. This proves that Turkey has already prepared itself for special military operations and has taken into consideration all the military and political prospects of such an attack. But the PKK has never bargained with human lives to achieve political goals, because those POWs are human beings before being Turkish soldiers; therefore we never expose their lives to political bargaining. How POWs should be treated in the international law, we will deal with them according to this law. We are prepared to receive the Red Cross or any other international organization if they want to investigate the living conditions of those POWs.
[Question] Regarding Talabani’s answer [last word as published], where he said that the PKK had announced a ceasefire, have you actually announced a cease-fire? If you have, what are the reasons that compelled the PKK unilaterally to announce a cease-fire?
[Answer] In October last year, 2006, we unilaterally announced a cease-fire. We have committed to that cease-fire to date. But during the last year, when we unilaterally announced a cease-fire, the Turkish government has launched more than 500 military attacks against the PKK. So, we are obliged to defend ourselves. Thus, we have not announced any new cease-fire, as we are still committed to last year’s cease-fire. It is not reasonable for us to announce a new ceaseefire when we announced a ceaseefire last year. Moreover, the PKK has not launched any new attacks, nay, it has been the Turkish army that initiated all the battles. Hence, the PKK guerillas have suffered the least damage, as the side that starts the attack always suffers more damage. Regarding Talabani’s statement, we published a statement in which we expressed our surprise at his statement. We have not broken last year’s ceaseefire for us to announce a new one. We have not launched one single attack on their bases and forces, and the human losses they suffered have resulted from our defending ourselves.
[Question] What is your military and military [as published] plan?
[Answer] Turkey cannot launch a wide ground offensive. We think it will only launch air strikes. And if it launches a ground offensive, it will do so in a small area to hit some specific points. We, as the PKK, have made preparations for all possible scenarios. Turkey cannot fight us because our military plan is fighting partisan warfare. We are now here, and after an hour, will go somewhere else. We move from this [mountain] peak to another one and so on. But Turkey, the Iraqi government and all sides have to know that we have settled in this area for the last 25 years. We are familiar with all the locations of this area. We know where the water is, where the caves are, and we are familiar with the rough and rugged paths of the Qandil mountains. It is very to difficult to hit the PKK. Moreover, we have nearly 5,000 guerrillas. The PKK will only vanish once all those 5,000 guerrillas are martyred. The Turkish army has no experience at all in this area, their coming here is tantamount to going to hell.
Originally published by Rozhnama, Sulaymaniyah, in Sorani Kurdish 28 Oct 07 p 5.
(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.