Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)

Rue Jean Stas 41
1060 Bruxelles

Website: www.kongrakurdistan.net

e-mail:kongrakurdistan@gmail.com

 

U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice

Washington, DC

20522-0303 USa

1-800-US REWARD

info@rewardsforjustice.net, @Rewards4Justice, @StateDeptDSS

RFJ@state.gov

+18008773927

 

Open Letter

 

To US Defenders of Democracy and the People and the President of the United States

of America, the Congress and the Senate

 

On November 6th the newly appointed U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for

European and Eurasian Affairs, Mr. Matthew Palmer, announced during a visit meeting

with Turkish government officials, that the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for

Justice program is targeting three senior members (Murat Karayilan, Cemil Bayik and

Duran Kalkan) of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and “has authorized rewards for

information leading to the identification or location” of them.

 

We, as the Kurdistan National Congress/ KNK, condemn this flagrantly unjust

decision. It is obvious that this is a political decision to give Turkey greater

latitude to continue with its atrocities against Kurdish people, often with

sophisticated weapons and military intelligence of the NATO. The roots of the

current war lie in the aftermath of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne with the founding of

Turkish state which immediately waged a war against the Kurdish people and other

indigenous people to assert its exclusive nationalism.

 

The means used by the Turkish state have ranged from state sponsored terrorism,

denial of political rights of freedom of association and expression and cultural

elimination of Kurdish identity.  During all the decades of oppression, the

Kurdistan Liberation Movement has only used minimal forms of resistance for

self-defense, peaceful modes of political organization, reclamation of cultural

identity and eschewing all acts of terrorism.

 

Mr. Murat Karayilan, Mr. Cemil Bayik and Mr. Duran Kalkan are politicians who have

struggled against Turkish fascism, ISIS and Erdogan´s totalitarianism.  The PKK

didn’t just fight against ISIS, but took very important steps in creating a new

Middle East based on the fraternity of Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Armenians,

Circassians, Persians and Turks with the understanding of democratic nation. These

freedom loving individuals are voluntarily working for achieving peace and

tranquility between Turks, Kurds and other ethnicities and working tirelessly to

achieve democracy at the grassroots level.

 

The PKK has always called for a peaceful political resolution of the Kurdish

question through mediation by US, EU, UN to open a process of a constructive

dialogue between the PKK and the Turkish state. Mr. Ocalan, the leader of the

Kurdistan national liberation movement, announced a peace process and reconciliation

on March 2013 which ended the hostilities and was promising. Regrettably, Mr Erdogan

ended this process abruptly in June 2015 by resuming hostilities to take political

advantage.

 

The Rewards for Justice program makes the US complicit in Turkey’s atrocities and

genocides against Kurdish people, the Armenians and other minorities such aa

Alawites and Yazidis. This is contrary to the professed values liberty and democracy

promoted by the US. Whatever the geopolitical and financial motives behind this

program, it is indefensible and the people of US must realize that their government

is supporting genocidal atrocities.

 

We are asking the people of America, the president, the federal government, the

senate, the congress and all democratic organizations to respect the political

rights of the people of Kurdistan. Kurdish political parties, intellectuals and

every average Kurd have very good knowledge about the barbaric colonial system of

the Turkish state and will fight for its democratic and national rights no matter

who supports Turkey.

 

Americans must develop an independent understanding of the Kurdish struggle for

freedom rather than the view fed to them by the Turkish state and Turkish president

Erdogan whose authoritarianism and anti-democratic policies are demonstrable daily.

 

Democratic forces in the Middle East were expecting that the PKK would be delisted

from the list of terrorist organizations in US and Europe but it seems that Erdogan

can influence governments to continue blacklisting the PKK so that he can wage war

in the name of fighting terrorism.

 

We will continue to struggle for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question in all

parts of Kurdistan, including Turkey and will preserve the inherent right of

self-defense and ask friends of democracy and justice to stand by us in these

difficult times.

 

 

 

The Executive Committee of the Kurdistan National Congress/ KNK

 

2018-11-08