Statement by the Kurdistan National Congress (KNC)
Regarding the Current Situation in Eastern and Western Kurdistan
Experience dictates that “collective suffering” has been the most potent driver of national solidarity in Kurdistan. Yet, this same experience reveals that the national solidarity born solely of this single factor has failed to evolve into a “political consensus” capable of steering the Kurds toward national liberation. Instead, time and again, moments that presented opportunities for the Kurds and crises for their adversaries have been reversed—due to the vigilance of the enemy and the inadvertence of the Kurds—concluding to the detriment of Kurdistan and the advantage of its occupiers.
Currently, a simultaneous wound has been inflicted upon the body and soul of the Kurdish Nation by three adversaries of Kurdistan: Iran, through the massacres in Kermanshah, Ilam, and Luristan; Syria, through occupation and the attempted national erasure of the Kurds in Western Kurdistan; and Turkey, through an insidious “peace plot” targeting the future of both Northern and Western Kurdistan. This wound threatens to abort the liberating potential of this Kurdistani resurgence in two distinct ways. Firstly, through the malformation of the consensus regarding Western Kurdistan (Rojava), shifting it toward a merely “cultural and aesthetic” visibility that lacks liberating power; and secondly, through the “collective silence” justified by severed communications regarding Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat)—specifically in Ilam, Kermanshah, and Luristan. It appears this opportunity, too, risks concluding in favor of Kurdistan’s enemies, thereby prolonging the history of occupation.
The Kurdistan National Congress (KNC), defining itself based on “Kurdistani” identity as the bearer of the national objective—namely independence and national sovereignty—believes that the destiny of the Kurds in all four parts is intertwined. No part can advance toward a solution without the readiness and ownership of the others. Simultaneously, the plight of one part must not be neglected for the sake of another. A child from Kermanshah, Kobani, Amed, or Erbil represents the future generation of Kurdistan equally. The soil of Kobani, Erbil, Amed, and Kermanshah is equally the soil of Kurdistan. This perspective dictates that while the youth of Kurdistan are duty-bound to defend the entire land and people, “national mutual defense” does not imply emptying one part of Kurdistan for the sake of another. Rather, it is the duty of the political movements in those parts to demonstrate national-patriotic cohesion through unity of purpose, voice, and action; they must not allow political movements acting out of self-interest to sharpen borders and widen gaps at a time when the youth of Kurdistan are crossing those very borders, driven by national sentiment.
The KNC issues a stern warning regarding the subconscious attempts to sterilize the broad consensus that has emerged regarding Western Kurdistan. Simultaneously, it issues a critical warning regarding the trivialization of the blood of martyrs in Ilam, Kermanshah, and Luristan. If the media, intellectuals, and responsible activists do not prevent the hollowing out of the cause of “Land and Nation,” and if they do not halt the Iranian enemy’s plot—currently in motion—to manufacture and widen an “identity and national rift” between the three provinces of Luristan, Ilam, and Kermanshah on one side, and Sanandaj (Sine) and Urmia on the other, a dire future awaits all of Kurdistan.
The call of the Kurdistan National Congress is for “Kurdistan as a Territory” to have the greatest reflection in demonstrations, mass campaigns, and diplomatic efforts. “Kurdistani” identity—meaning a national bond connecting the Kurdish individual to the Land, not merely to blood—must become the epicenter of this cohesion, aiming to liberate the country from occupation and deliver our nation from statelessness. Concurrently, the Kurdistan National Congress considers it its constitutional duty to shoulder its Kurdistani responsibility in all possible arenas and to keep the people of Kurdistan informed of the progress and results of its efforts.
Together, towards the goal of Statehood, Independence, and National Sovereignty…
Kurdistan National Congress (KNC)
January 25, 2026