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Kurdistan Workers’ Party and Turkish Peoples’ Democratic Party side with Palestine

BY Kurt T

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a communist resistance movement dedicated to combating the Turkish government, have condemned the recent killing of Palestinian protesters that clashed with Israeli soldiers just after the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem. Ironically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the incident as well; one of the rare instances where […]

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a communist resistance movement dedicated to combating the Turkish government, have condemned the recent killing of Palestinian protesters that clashed with Israeli soldiers just after the United States opened its embassy in Jerusalem. Ironically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the incident as well; one of the rare instances where the two have found common ground. A statement released by the PKK Executive Committee read, “We strongly condemn the Gaza massacre and we offer our sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs and the Palestinian people,” according to a PKK affiliated media outlet. The statement also declared that there must be a solution “through dialogue and negotiation, because insisting on the use of force does nothing but aggravating the problems.”

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The incident the PKK is referring to, took place last Monday when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters who had gathered at the border when they became violent. In total, it has been speculated that nearly 2,700 were injured and 57 killed during the clash; the deadliest exchange between the two entities since 2014. While the PKK has been accused of receiving military aid from Israel by the Turkish state, it has consistently denied the accusations. This is relevant because the PKK took part in the Lebanon War of 1982 on the side of Palestine. The statement mentions this saying, “During the occupation of Lebanon in 1982, 13 distinguished members of the PKK fighters who were fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinians fell martyrs in this war.” The war took place June 6th of that year when Israel Defense Forces entered Lebanon to combat the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO had attempted to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., Shlomo Argov.

The Turkish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) — which it is accused of having direct links to the PKK — co-chair, Sezai Temelli, called on other parties to put a stop to military, economic and political agreements with Israel and its allies by saying, “if you want to show solidarity to the people of Palestine. Let’s end these commercial, political and military deals with Israel. Let’s end all these deals together, Parliament.” A twitter post by Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed HDP candidate running in the upcoming Turkish election, stated,

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[Translation: I condemn the unlimited barbarism of the Israeli government. I wish mercy from Allah and heal the wounded and the slaughtered children of the oppressed Palestinian people. A strong voice, a common stance must be shown in order to stop the brutality of the Israeli government as soon as possible.]

Turkish President Erdogan tweeted,

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RT_Erdogan) May 15, 2018

Featured image: Turkish politician Selahattin Demirtaş by Voice of America [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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