NEWS CENTER - Drawing attention that Turkey wants to empty Kirkuk from Kurds, Academician Kamuran Berwarî said: "Turkishness is being imposed on the people of Kirkuk."

 

Turkey's attacks on the Zap, Avaşîn and Metina regions of the Federated Kurdistan Region, launched in cooperation with the KDP, continue. While attacks continue in the region, new developments are taking place in the cooperation between Ankara and Hewlêr. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan visited Iraq and the Federated Kurdistan Region on August 24.

 

Following Fidan's visits, the tension in Kirkuk escalated. Protests by the Turkmen Front and Salafi groups began against the closure of the Kirkuk-Hewlêr highway. In attacks on activists, 4 Kurdish young people were murdered. Again, after Fidan's visit, the rise of slogans such as "Kirkuk is Turkish and will remain Turkish" was interpreted as the result of Turkey's interventions in the region.

 

Kamuran Berwarî, Vice President of the Federated Kurdistan Region Democracy and Politics Academy and Lecturer at Duhok University, evaluated the developments in Kirkuk.

 

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER FIDAN VISIT

 

Stating that the attacks were planned before the visit of Fidan, Berwari said: “If Turkey had gotten what it wanted in the negotiations, there would be no attacks in Kirkuk. Undoubtedly, Fidan's arrival is part of the strategic plan implemented during the Mustafa Kazimi period and they are trying to implement it. It is not a coincidence that there were attacks after Fidan's arrival in Kirkuk and that Kurds were massacred in these attacks. It is very likely that preparations for this will be made before these meetings. Fidan's arrival to the region is linked to all developments in the Middle East. This visit is connected to Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor, Mosul and Kirkuk. The Turkish state and some other powers aimed to create a region between Southern Kurdistan and Iraq, and by taking this place under their control, they would sell Kurdistan's natural gas and oil. When this plan did not work, they attacked Kirkuk."

 

IMPOSED TURKISHNESS ON KIRKUK

 

Stating that history books confirm that Kirkuk is a Kurdish city, Berwarî said: “Turkey demands Turkishness from Kirkuk. The Turkish state wants the Kirkuk people to become Turks and to declare that they are Turks. In the face of this demand, they make propaganda of 'we will protect you'. In connection with these, he wants to send a group of soldiers to Kirkuk and settle there under the excuse of 'We are protecting the Turks'. The Turkish state knows that it actually has no role in Kurdistan and Iraq. Kirkuk is the city of Kurdistan and will always remain a Kurdish city. No one will be able to take Kirkuk from the Kurds. Kirkuk is the identity of the Kurds. The city of Kirkuk was Kurdistan for 4-5 thousand years before its birth. Erdoğan and Fidan should look at the documents and archives of the Ottoman state. There are millions of documents about this. Ottoman sources state that the population of Kirkuk is 30 thousand and 3/4 of them are Kurds. Neither Erdoğan nor Hakan Fidan nor their government can label a piece of Kurdistan as Turkish or Turkmen, as if it were Turkey's property."

 

INTERVENTION IN DEMOGRAPHY

 

Stating that Turkey wants to change the demographics of Kirkuk and empty Kirkuk of Kurds with the attacks, Berwari said: "There will be major developments in Iraq and Southern Kurdistan in the coming period. Regional politicians want to attribute what is happening today to stability. The situation should be under the control of the people of Kirkuk. Kirkuk is currently under the control of the people of Kirkuk. It is the official city of Iraq. All districts of Kirkuk are Kurdish. Even if it is destroyed and other races are brought to Kirkuk, Kirkuk is Kurdistan. Efforts to play with its demography and empty Kirkuk of Kurds are an absolutely empty scenario."