Kurdish Friendship Group in the EP – Debate Kobanê, Sinjar and HDP

DSCF6857 The Kurdish Friendship Group in the European Parliament (EP) has discussed the reconstruction of Kobanê, the situation in Sinjar and the HDP’s perspective regarding the 7 June elections.
Marie Christine Vergiat from the French Left Group said that everything must be done to support Kobanê, where a heroic resistance is continuing. Vergiat also emphasised the importance of the HDP succeeding in the elections, saying she hoped the elections would take place in a safe environment.
Call for a permanent corridor
Dr. Nasan Ahmad, the Health Minster of Kobanê, stressed that they were aiming to establish a democratic autonomous system based on equality between men and women and reciprocal respect, adding that the reconstruction of Kobanê was important and in order for the work to take place a permanent corridor needed to be opened.
Dr. Ahmad called on international institutions to take initiatives to assist the reconstruction of Kobanê. He said 85% of the city had been destroyed, and that since 1 February 36 people had died as a result of mines laid by ISIS in the city. He added that he hoped success for the HDP in the upcoming elections would lead to more constructive relations with the Turkish authorities.
‘Erdoğan and the AKP want an authoritarian regime’
Nazmi Gür, member of PACE and the HDP’s Foreign Relations department said that President Erdoğan wanted a more authoritarian regime, pointing to the recent provocation in Ağrı as evidence of this. Gür emphasised that the HDP represented pro-freedom and egalitarian currents at the elections and said the OSCE and PACE were sending election monitors. He called on the EP and the left and green group in particular to send delegations.
‘We consider democratic autonomy to be a reasonable demand’
Fikret Igrek, a representative of the Federation of Yazidi Associations and President of the Sinjar Council in Exile, said that the PKK and YPG/YPJ had done their utmost to resist the savage ISIS attacks on Sinjar, adding that they considered democratic autonomy similar to that which existed in Rojava to be a reasonable perspective for the different communities in the Nineveh region.