A new pro-Kurdish party was announced in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Sunday.

The party is known by the initials of its Kurdish name, Partiya Azadiya Kurdistan (Kurdistan Freedom Party). Kurdish politician Mustafa Özçelik was elected chairman of PAK, which pursues the establishment of a Kurdish state as a goal.

“Just like Halabja and Anfal laid the foundation of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Shingal and Kobani massacres will historically be the beginning of the union of Kurds and Kurdistan, and of [Kurdistan] becoming a state,” Özçelik was quoted as saying by the private Cihan news agency during a gathering at a Diyarbakır hotel, the hall of which was draped with Kurdish flags.

The establishment of PAK, he said, is the culmination of the work of a platform which was established in Diyarbakır a year ago for the purpose of founding a “Kurdistani party.”

“Today, the state accepts the existence of Kurds. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan even uttered the word Kurdistan, even though this was on the occasion of a visit to Turkey by [Iraqi Kurdish leader] Mr. Massoud Barzani,” Özçelik said. “As an acknowledgement of this fact, some changes are being made concerning language, education and cultural rights. These are certainly important. It is in the interests of all of us that the policies of denial have receded, albeit to a certain extent.”