ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are more divided now over the declared Kurdish autonomy in Syia, says Fayaq Golpi, former leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (KDSP). But he says their unity is essential for furthering the Kurdish cause.
“The first step to create Kurdish unity is for these two parties to come closer to each other, engage in dialogue and end the coldness and bickering between them,” Golpi told Rudaw.
A veteran politician from the Hawraman region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Golpi has strong ties to the PKK, and has often played mediator between it and other Kurdish parties.
He says that the PKK and KDP must realize that, as two major parties, they have influence over all parts of Kurdistan, and that their unity could only serve the Kurdish cause.
“In the Kurdistan Region the KDP is party Number One, with influence on all other parts (of Greater Kurdistan). And in North Kurdistan (Turkey), the PKK is the same, with influence especially in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan). So it is in the interests of the Kurds if the two are united.”
Golpi believes that the Kurdish people have great expectations of these parties, and that the leaders of the PKK and KDP should put their ideological differences aside and answer the call of the nation.
“In my opinion, one of the major points of tension between the two is what is happening in Rojava,” says Golpi. “The KDP and Kurdish government can take positive steps by supporting Rojava, at least by opening the Simelka border crossing to send humanitarian and medical aid to the fighters there.”
“By doing that, there is hope to solve 90 percent of the differences,” Golpi believes.
He says that no major policy differences exist between the KDP and PKK in the north, or even in Iranian Kurdistan. He notes the KDP’s support for the peace process between the PKK and Ankara, clearly stated by KDP leader Massoud Barzani in a letter to Abdullah Ocalan last year.
Golpi says that the KDP is invited along with other Kurdish parties to all events taking place in the Kurdish cities of Turkey. “For instance, the KDP was at the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir and they are invited to other meetings and talks as well.”
He notes that that the KDP’s refusal to recognize the autonomous cantons established by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Rojava is responsible for the present rift with the PKK.
Golpi says that the tensions between the KDP and PKK are detrimental to the Kurdish cause in general, and in the Kurdistan Region and Rojava in particular.
“Therefore, I ask all the leaders to put their differences aside, meet at the negotiating table, form a united front and take the Kurdish cause a step forward,” he adds.
The KDP and PKK have often expressed support for each other’s political projects in their respective areas of influence, in Turkey and Iraq. KDP-PKK leaders met regularly during peace talks between the PKK and Ankara, and PKK leaders were among the first to welcome a call by Barzani for a Kurdish National Congress last year.
However, as Golpi points out, Rojava is the difficult part of the puzzle. The KDP accuses the PKK and its local affiliate -- the PYD -- of sidelining other smaller Kurdish parties, and not giving them a chance to participate in running the Kurdish regions of Syria.
In return the PKK-PYD leaders say the smaller parties do not have their own independent agenda and that they follow the KDP. Furthermore, PYD leaders say that the autonomous cantons are democratic and inclusive, and that all parties are welcome to join.
“The revolution in Rojava is the revolution of the entire Kurdish nation,” said PYD co-chair Asia Abdullah in her Newroz speech in Diyarbakir on Friday. “This democratic process has to, and will, succeed.”
