BEHDINAN – PKK Executive Committee Member Murat Karayılan stated that the biggest and most important result revealed by the last elections was that the practices developed by the AKP-MHP-Ergenekon regime towards the people of Kurdistan remained inconclusive, and said, “To liquidate the revolutionary forces, to eliminate the gains and to take over the people by rendering them unorganized and weak-willed. they wanted. These elections showed once again that they could not succeed. All fascist oppression, arrest, massacre, isolation and all kinds of attacks; Again, despite all the efforts of the state and of course all the stealing and deceptions in order for the Kurds not to show their will in these elections or even to pass the threshold, the result that emerged is a really important result. It is a success for our people in terms of protecting their will. It indicates his determination to protect himself, his identity and his future. No one can make Kurdistan society take a step back in this regard. This has been proven once again,” he said.
PKK Executive Committee Member Murat Karayılan answered the questions of the Dengê Gel Radio. Here is the entire conversation:
The isolation on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan continues. Any progress on this?
The isolation against Leader Apo continues. Despite the election process and different developments in Turkey, what continues systematically is the isolation on Leader Apo. From time to time, Turkish authorities put their opinions about Leader Apo on the Turkish agenda and discuss it. They also continue the aggravated isolation. This system of isolation is not in the laws of anyone in the world. In other words, there is no such thing in any country in the world. There is no such thing in Turkish law. In short, they trample on all laws and moral standards and perpetuate this isolation.
Leader Apo’s stance in that torture system and the struggle he developed and our people’s stance around Leader Apo have rendered the isolation policy of the enemy ineffective and inconclusive. What was the purpose of this psychological torture and aggravated isolation? It was to liquidate the Freedom Movement, to destroy the gains of the Kurdish people, to weaken the people of Kurdistan and to take them in this way. That was its purpose, but today it has not been achieved. In other words, the gains of the Kurdish people are standing still, the Freedom Movement is increasing the struggle in every field today, and our people stand by their will even under the most difficult conditions. Most recently, in the elections held a few days ago, our people clearly demonstrated this reality. That is, it is a resisting will; they could not break the will of our people; They did not achieve the desired result.
Undoubtedly, the results of the struggle carried out around Leader Apo are not seen only in Kurdistan. At the same time, Leader Apo’s views and thoughts are on the agenda around the world today, he is more powerful than in any period. Leader Apo’s paradigm has become a great hope for the peoples who are oppressed and exploited by capitalist modernity. And this has revealed that capitalist modernity is not without alternatives and that democratic socialism and democratic modernity are a strong alternative reality. On this basis, it reveals that Leader Apo’s depth and the paradigm he presented is a hope for everyone who is oppressed today. This clearly shows that the genocidal policy and isolation carried out by the Turkish colonialism were inconclusive.
We are in May. May is considered Martyrs’ Month. What would you say about this?
First of all, on the 46th anniversary of martyrdom, I commemorate all the martyrs of May, all martyrs of the revolution in the person of Comrade Haki Karer, and bow respectfully before their memories. On the occasion of this holy day, I repeat the promise we made to our martyrs. We will follow them to the end; We will raise the flag they left us, we will carry their struggle to success, in this way we will make them immortal figures in our history of struggle. We will abide by this promise to the end.
In May, there were also important martyrdoms in terms of the Turkish revolution. On this occasion, I commemorate all the martyrs of the Turkish revolution, from Deniz Gezmiş to İbrahim Kaypakkaya, and bow respectfully before their memories. Basically, the struggle we are waging right now is a continuation of these heroes and their representation is kept alive in the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRUTH OF MARTYRS
Now, the roles and missions of the martyrs are important for every revolutionary-combatant-social movement. For us and our Movement in Kurdistan, this role and mission is more than just important. Martyrs are everything since the foundation of our Revolution and Movement. It has been the leaven of our Martyrs Movement. The truth of the martyrs has always been a source of power and a pioneering mission in the foundation of the movement, and then its execution and bringing it to the present day. Martyrs play such an important role in our revolution. For this reason, the reality of martyrs is different from other movements. Its spiritual side is much more, its importance is much deeper and more meaningful. There are two reasons for this fact:
* Our country is under the grip of genocide and everything about our country and our people has been denied. In other words, even the name of the country is forbidden, it is seen as a crime to take care of oneself, it is desired to eliminate and completely eliminate all identity features, whether they belong to the country or to the person. For this reason, conducting a revolutionary struggle in such a country is not an ordinary thing and it is very important. The difficulties are many. You cannot develop revolutionism if you do not approach sacrifice, if you do not risk everything for human truth, freedom, nation, country, free country. That’s one side of it.
* The second and more important aspect is Leader Apo’s approach to this issue from the very beginning. As it is known, Leader Apo considers his life as three different birth processes. Leader Apo’s second birth process begins with protecting the memory of the martyrs. In other words, it is the beginning of the second birth, the emergence of the freedom struggle, the ideological struggle and the establishment. This means to set out as a starting point for the memory of the martyrs.
REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS
Leader Apo first gets to know Mahir Çayan, one of the pioneers of my Turkish revolution. Later, when he and 10 of his comrades were martyred, he led the boycott organization at the Ankara Faculty of Political Sciences, where he read in memory of them. That’s why he is arrested. He stays in the Mamak Dungeon. Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed there. Then Leader Apo is also imprisoned in that dungeon. Therefore, Leader Apo leaves the dungeon with determination. Thanks to the concentrations he developed in the dungeon and the depth he created, he now decides to develop the revolutionary movement on the basis of the memory of the martyrs. As soon as he comes out of the dungeon, Haki Karer and Kemal Pir know his friends. He is going to their house. Now they share this concentration with them, live with them, act with them, discuss with them,
PARTY STABILITY FINALIZED
When the group grew a little and dispersed to Kurdistan, that is, when it was organized among the youth, especially the student youth in Ankara and Istanbul, and then spread to Kurdistan, the international revolutionary Haki Karer was the assistant of Comrade Leader Apo. Leader Apo commented that ‘he was my secret soul’. Without hesitation and resolutely, he became Comrade Haki, who came to Kurdistan before anyone else, and started working. He was such a valuable, determined militant. Undoubtedly the enemy followed and detected it; In this way, he was martyred by the contra organization called Stêrka Sor, which he organized. After comrade Haki Karer was martyred, Leader Apo said, ‘We gave martyrs, blood was shed; He wrote the PKK program in memory of his friend Haki, saying, ‘There is no turning back now,’ and finalized his approach to partying.
TWO IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCES OF HIS MARTYRDOM
It can be stated that the martyrdom of the Haki friend was instrumental in two important issues:
- The first is the development of the party decision and the continuation of the memory of the martyrs for revenge. This led the group to the decision to party. The PKK Congress was also held in a little over a year, and the PKK was established. There is one side of it.
- Secondly, small armed units were formed for the first time in order to avenge Comrade Haki Karer. They sought revenge, and they have already taken revenge. In other words, the beginning of the armed struggle necessarily came to the fore in this way. The group took up arms to protect itself and to take revenge, and thus the armed struggle, namely the self-defense phase, essentially started in this way.
THE TURNING OF THE RINGS OF WITNESS INTO MOVEMENTS
For these reasons, the concept of ‘very deep comradeship in group relations’ can be mentioned, especially for that period. So friends were very attached to each other; every friend was like that. Therefore, if a friend fell a martyr, his loyalty to him increased even more. This has caused each martyrdom to gain much more depth. In particular, Leader Apo’s relationship with friends, his sincere devotion led to a much deeper and more meaningful commitment when martyrdom took place. For example, such was the martyrdom of the Mazlum Doğans and Ferhat Kurtays. In fact, the martyrdom of Ferhat Kurtay and his three friends was experienced by setting their bodies on fire in the Diyarbakır Dungeon on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Comrade Haki Karer. They put up a fierce resistance. It reveals a spirit. In short, this spirit, locked in a goal and sacrificing himself for that purpose, devoted to comradeship and martyrs, has been the basis of the development of the August 15 Initiative and the transformation of all martyrdom circles into new moves. The enemy wanted to hit PKK cadres. He wanted it back then, just as he wanted it now. Every attack of the enemy, that is, every martyrdom, developed not weakening but strengthening. The reality of martyrdom has created such a synergy.
THE BREAKING SPIRIT WAS DEVELOPING MORE
In other words, this comradeship relationship developed by the Leader; The relationship he created first between himself and his friends, and then between him and the martyrs became such that; each martyr made the Movement much stronger. Because there was so much more devotion; there was much more social participation; the self-sacrificing spirit in friends was developing much more. These were already happening mostly in the Leadership. The Leader’s devotion to the martyrs and their comradeship with them already led to a deepening of enthusiasm, morale and determination in the Movement.
WRITTEN IN THE MOST DIFFICULT CONDITIONS
For example, Leader Apo has been in the Imrali Dungeon for 25 years now. This dungeon was built so that a person would lose his mind there and be unable to think. In particular, it was developed by international conspiratorial forces to kill the insider while he was still alive, so to speak. In other words, this system was created mainly to make the person unable to think and continue his line. That’s why those psychological torture methods are always being used. Look; Leader Apo developed the greatest creativity there. There she created the Democratic-Ecological Society Paradigm Based on Women’s Freedom. It was there that he experienced his greatest theoretical deepening. She has created morale and enthusiasm in herself. Now we are reading those books; We gain strength and morale. All patriots, especially every comrade, should think about the conditions under which those books were written. Leader Apo wrote the articles that are a source of morale and perspective for us, under the most difficult conditions. These were written under attacks of psychological torture. Even when alone. As it is known, Leader Apo was completely alone for the first 11 years. Then a few more friends went there, but still mostly alone; They see each other twice a week.
THE LEADERSHIP AND THE MARTYRS CANNOT BE SEEN FROM EACH OTHER
Leader Apo’s struggle developed on the basis of loyalty to the martyrs in Imrali and in the pre-Imrali period is an example of great creativity. On this basis, Leader Apo and the martyrs can no longer be separated from each other. Leader Apo is now the spokesperson of the martyrs. There is such a meaning in the reality of Leader Apo and martyrs. The important thing is that we get the right strength from this meaning. First of all, of course, to deepen and understand in this sense; Then you need to get strength from it. To gain strength from this reality is to be strong, to have willpower, to take courage, to overcome weakness. This is how male domination and female slavery can be overcome. The strength you derive from Leader Apo’s philosophy, the effort and sacrifice of the martyrs creates a very powerful and invincible level. The important thing is that people get it. That is how a free woman, a free man can be created; The foundation should be laid on this.
OUR MARTYRS ARE OUR EVERYTHING
In short, the source of this power is Leader Apo’s ideology and martyrs. For this, our martyrs are our source of strength. Our martyrs are our yesterday, today and tomorrow. Our martyrs are our everything. It is our yeast, it is our existence. Today, we draw strength from our martyrs. What is the peak of this? The pinnacle of this is sacrifice. The fact of self-sacrifice that took place in the person of Mazlum Doğans and Zîlans is still active today in the person of Sara and Rukens, but the last two years of resistance, especially in Zap, Avaşîn and Metina, and all of Northern Kurdistan, has deepened on the basis of the same mentality. The resistance that is now developing both in Northern Kurdistan and in the other areas I have mentioned is developing with great commitment and depth. For this, sacrifice, courage, fearlessness and self-sacrifice are very high. It was carried out in this way and in this way the enemy was stopped.
THEY ARE OUR COMMANDER
If today the enemy has not been able to liquidate the guerrilla in the North, has not been able to eliminate the Medya Defense Zones, and has been blocked in the Zap, this spirit and this stance lie behind it. This stance, today, in the person of Şoreş Beytüşşebaplar, Rêbers, Hejars, Serhats, Botans, Zinarînler, Cumaliler, Çavrês, Mizgîn Ronahîs, Bager and Avzems, Nuri and Berfinler, Helbest and Fedai Kobaniler, Delil Zagros and Mazlumler, Mahir Güvens and Mazlumler, , Ronahi Revolutions are expressed at a very high level in the person of Roza and Comrades Physician. Our most precious martyr, Viyan Özgür, was martyred in this last month as a representation of all Zap martyrs and Zap resistance. The bouncer is a friend; He is a member of the Special Forces and took part in the Zap / Girê Cudî resistance, and took part in the great resistance and victory. In other words, all of these are the pinnacle of the history of the martyrs’ struggle; They represent the sacrificial spirit at the highest level. We commemorate all our martyrs with love and respect. We are their followers; they are our commanders. Our duty today is to fulfill our comradely duty towards them and to protect their struggle.
Again, all the martyrs of the North are within this framework. For example, in the last year, that is, since New Year’s Eve, in Cudi in the person of Comrade Harun Şırnak, in Besta in the person of Comrade Rojbîn, in Gabar in the person of Evrim and Hogir, in Mardin in the person of Comrade Canşêr, in Dersim in the person of Comrade Yaşar, in Serhat in the person of Hêjar In the person of Comrade, in the person of Comrade Raperîn in Cîlo, we respectfully commemorate all the North Kurdistan resistance martyrs and reiterate our promise to them.
EVERY MARTYR IS IMMORTAL
The resistance on the line of martyrs continues at a very important level today. What I want to underline here is this: Martyr is the main foundation in our movement; our martyrs are our commanders; It is they, our heroic martyrs, who give us strength, guide us, determine the direction and clarify the line. For this reason, every comrade who is martyred in our ranks is immortal. As the comrades they left behind, we keep their memories alive in raising the freedom struggle and in this way we ensure the immortality of our martyrs. This is our duty; It is our duty to crown the struggle of our martyrs with victory.
There was an election in Türkiye and Northern Kurdistan. How do you evaluate the results of this election for the Kurdish people?
The most striking and important result revealed by the elections is that the practices developed by the AKP-MHP-Ergenekon regime for the people of Kurdistan did not yield any results. This is the biggest result. As it is known, the AKP-MHP-Ergenekon alliance has been carrying out an attack against our Movement, our people, our people’s identity and achievements on the basis of the ‘Plan of Collapse’ for these 8 years. With these attacks, they want to bring our people to their knees. In other words, they wanted to liquidate the forces of revolution, to eliminate the gains and to take over the people by dispersing them, making them disorganized and weak-willed. Now these elections have shown that this did not happen. So they couldn’t do it.
Just as they carried out a great persecution and physical genocide in Kurdistan from 1925 to the ’40s, and then for 30 years the Kurdish society could not raise its head; Again, after the military-fascist junta seized power on September 12, 1980, after the persecution and attack it carried out in Turkey and Kurdistan, silence prevailed in Kurdistan for 10 years and no one could even stand up for itself, today the AKP-MHP aimed at intimidation in the same way. . In other words, the aim of the attacks they launched in 2015 on the basis of the ‘Plan of Collapse’ is to make the people silent, just like September 12. These plans have not been successful. Of course, we knew this, but in the last elections this fact was revealed once again. Our people have shown their will. All the fascist oppression, arrests, and detentions against revolutionaries, democrats and patriots, as well as institutions of the same kind. massacre, isolation and attacks of all kinds; Again, despite all the efforts of the state and of course all the stealing and deceptions in order for the Kurds not to show their will in these elections or even to pass the threshold, the result that emerged is a really important result. It is a success for our people in terms of protecting their will. For this reason, our administration congratulated our people and all those who worked in this period. I specially congratulate our esteemed people of Botan, the people of Şırnak and Hakkari, and the people of Varto and Lice, who achieved high-level results. In their person, I undoubtedly greet and congratulate all our people. Demonstrating this will in the face of so much cruelty and attack, our people’s decision is final and will not change; indicates his determination to protect himself, his identity and his future. No one can make Kurdistan society take a step back in this regard. This has been proven once again.
DEFICIENCIES HAVE ALSO BEEN EXPERIENCED
On the other hand; Of course, there may be deficiencies in the studies. In other words, there may have been deficiencies in the working style, planning, and identification of the candidates. Relevant institutions and organizations held meetings on this issue and presented their approaches. Indeed, it was appropriate; ‘we have received the message of our people; we identified our shortcomings; We give personal criticism, they said. It seems that everyone has understood the issue and is in a responsible approach. In other words, both the result is strong and there are also deficiencies. As far as we understand, the shortcomings are emphasized. The important thing is to approach it more strongly in this framework that is revealed from now on. So from now on, everyone should take care of their duties much more; it should be more organized, nobody should wait for anybody; everyone should consider himself responsible; In this way, a revolutionary-democratic attitude should be developed. Our people must now show their will much more, and with their much greater stance, they must not allow fascism to pass, and must prevent fascism from getting any results. I believe that on the basis of this result, our people will give the necessary answer in a much stronger and more successful way from now on. In general it looks like this.
You mentioned the resistance of the northern guerrilla. As a season, we are at the beginning of the year practice. On this occasion, what would you like to say about the Northern struggle?
First of all, I greet all comrades fighting in Northern Kurdistan with love and respect. Our struggle in general, not only in Northern Kurdistan, is going through a very historical period today. As we have mentioned before, a very tough struggle has been waged for 8 years. Now AKP-MHP officials and some who call themselves war experts want to make propaganda for themselves by stating that they have won. However, they wanted to win, but they could not win. They planned to completely eliminate the Medya Defense Zones and at the same time liquidate the entire Northern guerrilla so that not a single Northern Kurdistan guerrilla remains. Again, by eliminating the Autonomous Administration, they planned that the Kurdish people would not have any gains in Rojava. They planned to abolish and liquidate the autonomous administration of the Yazidi community in Shengal.
THEY ARE LYING, THEY FAIL
They aimed all of these; They have spent all of Turkey’s income for this for the last 8 years, and although they have developed so many attacks, where is the result? Which of these has happened now? Here, the presence of the guerrilla in the North, the situation of the Medya Defense Zones and the achievements of the Kurdish people are in sight. What does this show? This shows that they are lying and are not actually successful.
It is true; we paid the price, we lost in some places, maybe they got some results in some places, but they didn’t get results in general, they couldn’t reach their goals. But they are now showing as if they have had results. The AKP-MHP regime wants to make such issues a material for the elections. The facts are in mind in this regard. For these two years, they want to dominate Zap; They still haven’t settled and are attacking every day because they can’t stand the presence of the guerrilla in Zap. They can’t get results from these attacks. The resistance of the guerrilla continues everywhere today. They believed that they could get results in two weeks by relying on their techniques, but they could not dominate Zap, Avaşîn and Metina for these two years. Of course, they may be in some places, but there are guerrillas in many places and they are at war with each other right now.
Now this also applies to the northern guerrillas. The northern guerrilla is at a really important time today. There is great sacrifice and courage. In fact, our friends make great sacrifices in many areas under the most difficult conditions. Their dedication to the struggle for the freedom of the people of Kurdistan and the region, in the line of Leader Apo and in the footsteps of the martyrs, with great love and dedication to the struggle for the freedom of the people of the region, expresses the advanced level of their friends. It is necessary to commend the comrades in this regard. However, there are some shortcomings in practice. We are examining all the martyrdom events in the North this year, and we have clarified many aspects of these martyrdoms with our research. Of course, it is necessary to dwell on them and to correct the deficiencies by taking revolutionary measures.
Most recently, intense wars and clashes took place in Mardin and Besta. It was reflected that many soldiers were killed. What would you like to say about the conflicts and losses in the context of these two events?
The operational attacks of the AKP-MHP developed in Bagok from April 27 to May 5. Friends carried out three actions against this operation. According to his friends, 8 soldiers died in these actions, and Bahoz Çiya was also martyred. Again in Besta, they developed an operational attack immediately after the 14 May election, that is, on the 15th and 16th of May; The clash took place on 16 May. There is no definite information about this conflict yet. They talk about 5 losses, but according to the first information we got, they have more losses. Again, they are talking about our 5 martyrs, but as far as we have been able to determine so far, two of our friends are martyrs. Undoubtedly, the result will be announced to the public when it is fully clarified. Otherwise, we cannot have a discourse on the AKP-MHP discourse without obtaining concrete information.
First of all, I would like to point out that; The AKP-MHP government is responsible for both the soldiers who died in these two wars and the comrades who were martyred again. As is known, our Movement declared inertia on February 9 due to the earthquakes of February 6th. This attitude of inaction still continues. Despite this, attacks by the Turkish state are taking place. AKP-MHP made all their election propaganda plans on the basis of Kurdish hostility and the death of Kurds. They already say how many Kurds they killed. They have a defense minister; He’s lying by giving numbers. Those numbers are not correct. Now they say, I don’t know, how many thousand people we killed. So who are those people? They are all Kurdish sons and daughters. They openly claim their murder and even make it the basis of their propaganda. In other words, there is a government that wants to perpetuate its regime by demanding such a massacre against us. Why? Because such a mentality and perception was already established in society; made propaganda on this basis; They use rhetoric as if we are Turkey’s enemies, as if we are going to tear Turkey apart. However, it is known that there is no such thing, we have mentioned it before. We want to democratize Turkey and develop the voluntary unity of peoples in Turkey. We want to develop real fraternity, unity and democracy, not separatism, on the basis of freedom and equality of peoples. We are in favor of the unity of the peoples on the basis of the freedom of the Kurdish people, the people of Kurdistan living with their will and identity. They are the ones who develop discrimination and separatism. Yet they make us look separatists, they make accusations on their own. In this way, they want to build their power on the basis of shedding the blood of Turkish and Kurdish children. For this, I state once again; In these conflicts, the AKP-MHP government alone is responsible for all the losses experienced in the previous processes, especially since February. They want to get results with deaths. They send, cause their death; Then they go to their funerals and make propaganda. Well, you are responsible; Why are you sending them there in these circumstances! They are both responsible for themselves and shed false tears over their bodies and engage in politics. They shamelessly carry out such hypocrisy. Tayyip Erdoğan is responsible for these results; is nobody else. This is how it should be known. In this way, they want to build their power on the basis of shedding the blood of Turkish and Kurdish children.
