(AINA) -- The Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile has issued the foolowing statement on the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One.

Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile
129a Avenue Louise 1050
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +322-539-3033
Fax: +322-539-3887

Press Release #1

April 23, 1995

We Stand For The Brotherhood Of The Peoples Of The World In addition to the Kurds, there are Armenians and Assyrians living in Kurdistan. The invasion and occupation of their lands have adversely affected all three constituent peoples. The implementation of divide and rule policies have resulted in internal feuding. The natives of millenniums have fought one another and forced each other to migrate.

A most telling example of this policy was put into action in 1915. For a few years, we were provoked to kill one another in order to benefit our self-appointed leaders.

On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman administrators began a policy of annihilating the Armenians and the Assyrians. This was a plan long in the making, meticulously carried out with the aid of some tribal Kurds who were organized into an auxiliary force, the 'Hamidiye Alaylari' or Hamidiye Brigades, of the Istanbul government. Today, a similar force has been established, the 'Koy Koruculari' or village guards. In that singular act of brutality at the turn of the century, millions of Armenians, Assyrians, and Kurds were murdered and many more were forced to embrace the coldness of diaspora.

The policy of divide and rule has been inherited by the new Turkish government in Ankara. The same hideous crimes are now inflicted on the Kurds. At times, the Kurdish religious communities are provoked into fighting one another, as the Alevis and Sunnis do from time to time. A more sinister plan is the empowerment of an auxiliary force of mercenary Kurds to fight against their fellow Kurds who are on the side of freedom and liberty. New chapters of blood and pain, suffering and migration are written daily in the history of Turkey.

A cursory look at the history of the Ottomans reveals more about the nature of the Turkish state's practices. In Asia Minor, historians tell us, there were once vibrant societies, different languages, and various cultures. Today, there are no vestiges left of these communities. A similar policy is now in the works for Kurdistan: Some Kurds are killed, many are legally and forcibly made to become Turks, and more are forced to flee in an attempt to end the way of life which is known as Kurdistan.

As the Chair of the Executive Council of the Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile, a representative body of the Kurds in diaspora, I am urging the world public opinion not to let history repeat itself and not to remain silent to the annihilation of the Kurds.

Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of the massacres of the Armenians and the Assyrians. Let history note that we at the Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile share the pain of the survivors and their relations. We unequivocally denounce the act and condemn the perpetrators of this inhumanity, the Ottomans and their collaborators of the Kurdish auxiliary forces. We urge you all to do the same.

Zubeyir Aydar,
Chair of the Executive Council