In a statement published on July 16, the political affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Koma Civakên Kurdistan (Group of Communities in Kurdistan – KCK), said the real and more dangerous coup is the one being led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “This case is not a matter of defending or not defending democracy. On the contrary, this situation is the proof of a lack of democracy in Turkey,” the KCK Executive Council stated.
“Portraying Tayyip Erdogan and the fascist AKP dictator as if they were democratic after this coup attempt is an approach even more dangerous than the coup attempt itself. Portraying the fight for power among authoritarian, despotic and anti-democratic forces as a fight between the supporters and enemies of democracy would only serve to legitimize the existing fascist and despotic government,” read a translation by Firat News Agency.
The statement goes on to list how the president has exceeded his constitutional powers:
“Political power’s control over the judiciary, the implementation of fascist laws and policies through a parliamentary majority, the removal of parliamentarians’ immunities, the arrest of (Kurdish) co-mayors, the removal of co-mayors from their positions, and the imprisonment of thousands of politicians from the HDP and DBP [another Kurdish party] constitute more of an actual coup.”
The solution, said the statement, comes in supporting a path that does not involve supporting either side.
“Within this framework, the defenders of democracy should stand up against the legitimization of the fascist AKP government’s policies under the disguise of democracy and create a democratic alliance that would democratize Turkey. This coup attempt makes it necessary for us to not slow down the struggle against AKP fascism but to enhance it so that chaos and clashes in Turkey come to an end and a new and democratic Turkey emerges.”
The PKK created the KCK to implement its political ideology, democratic confederalism, which is “flexible, multi-cultural, anti-monopolistic, and consensus-oriented,” according to PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the ideology.
