Barham Salih tells Osman Baydemir he’s ‘in the heart of all Kurds’
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — “You are in the heart of all Kurds” Barham Salih, the leader of the Coalition for Democracy and Justice told Osman Baydemir, a deputy HDP MP from Turkey, on Tuesday in Sulaimani.
“Dear Osman, you said in [Turkey’s] parliament that Kurdistan is in your heart. And I would like to tell you that you are in the heart of all Kurds,” Salih said.
In response, Baydemir thanked Salih for the praise saying, “may all the Kurds and Kurdistan be happy.”
Baydemir is on a three-day trip and meeting with political parties and leaders in the Kurdistan Region as part of a Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) delegation to strengthen national unity.
Masoud Barzani, the head of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), reportedly had a similar line for Baydemir when he received the HDP delegation in Erbil on Saturday.
"Since Kurdistan is in your heart, you too are also in our hearts," Masoud Barzani said, according to a tweet posted on Monday by Omed Khoshnaw, the head of the KDP's parliamentary faction in the Kurdistan Region.
Masoud Barzani and the HDP delegation focused on unity to meet the challenges facing Kurds. They discussed the September referendum, the fall of the Kurdish canton of Afrin, and the situation of Kurds in Turkey, according to a statement from Barzani's office.
Kurds have never chosen the path of violence or war to achieve their rights, Barzani said, but war has always been imposed on the Kurdish people, according to the statement.
The charismatic Baydemir won the hearts of Kurds earlier this year when he was asked by the Turkish deputy parliament speaker, “Where is Kurdistan?”
“It is here,” he replied in parliament, clapping his hand on his heart.
In July 2017, the parliament adopted new guidelines that banned use of the terms “Kurdistan,” “Kurdish regions,” and “Armenian genocide.”
Baydemir is among a group of HDP MPs facing terror-related or anti-Turkish state charges. Ankara has accused the party of having ties with the banned PKK, a charge HDP denies.
The visit is primarily to console KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani and his family over the loss of his twin brother who died of a heart attack on April 2.
The political message the HDP delegation brought with them after meeting with almost all the Kurdistan Region’s parties including the KDP, PUK, Gorran, the KIU and the CDJ was “unity” among Kurdish parties across Greater Kurdistan and for laying the groundwork for holding a long anticipated Kurdish congress.
“We hope our coming to the Kurdistan Region be seen as a support for the all Kurdish nation,” Baydemir said during a press conference with Salih. “We are once again reiterating that, for us, Kirkuk, Amed (Diyarbakir), Afrin, Mahabad, Sina, Kermanshah, are all the same.”
“Any attack on South Kurdistan, hurts us, the happiness of South Kurdistan is our happiness. The same is true for the East and West,” he said, referring to the Kurdistan Region, Iranian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan.
He claimed some unnamed regional powers are plotting against the Kurds in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran, so that they are fragmented and not united: “But our struggle will continue that there must be Kurdish unity one day.”
For his part, Salim, the leader of CDJ and the former prime minister of the Kurdistan, said in their meeting they shed light on the importance of holding a Kurdish congress and having unity among all parties.
“We have decided to increase our talks to lay the groundwork for the important coordination,” he said, adding work must be done to pave the way for Kurdish youth and women across the four parts of Kurdistan to meet and increase joint coordination in a variety of fields.
The HDP delegation met with PM Barzani and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) head Masoud Barzani on Saturday in Erbil.