NEWS CENTER – Kurdish Politician-Writer Fuat Kav made comments to the ANF on the occasion of the anniversary of the 14 July Great Death Fast Resistance. Kav said, “It is possible to evaluate the Great Death Fast of 14 July as a milestone for the party, the people of Kurdistan, the Middle East, that is, for the Middle East revolutions. Because at that time, Diyarbakir dungeons were intended to be turned into a concentration camp, by the Turkish state, by the September 12 regime.” said.
‘NEED FOR NEW ACTIONS; THE GREAT DEATH FAST WAS ANSWER
Kav explained the death fast process as follows:
When looked at like this, it meant that a will that would naturally emerge there or a break of will that would emerge there would have a very important effect on the revolution or counter-revolution. Therefore, the resistance put forward there was both the resistance of the Kurdistan Revolution and also meant the resistance of a revolution that might emerge in the Middle East in the future. In this context, the Great Death Fast of 14 July had such an important mission and an important role.
We know that before the Great Death Fast of 14 July, a very large level of actions and activities were put forward. Friend Mazlum Doğan’s action, the action he developed in the body of the bodyguard, the action that Dörtler developed by burning themselves in the following process naturally both affected the enemy to a great extent, at the same time what the PKK means, what the PKK cadres mean, what stance they have. It was important in terms of revealing an attitude that means that he is a person and what kind of will he has. He also played a very important role in influencing the prisoners. However, both actions, namely Mazlum Doğan’s action and Dörtler’s action, were insufficient in terms of ending the practices in Diyarbakır Prison. It had a significant impact. It created a significant question mark in the minds of the enemy. At least they saw that the attitude and resistance of the PKK and its staff had developed. But this naturally fell short of achieving results in the struggle against surrender and betrayal. Therefore, new actions were needed, new stances were needed, another kind of upright stance was needed against the enemy, against the September 12 regime. And this was the 14th of July, the Great Death Fast.
Of course, friends had argued a lot in the previous period. In other words, your friend Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir and other friends, how could there be a third action… In other words, after the action of Mazlum friend and Dörtler, they had great discussions about what kind of action should be stamped. The sacrifice action had taken place, in the person of Mazlum Doğan. The self-immolation had taken place, in the person of Ferhat Kurtay and three friends. He needed another action behind. Another type of action was needed. But there was a need for an action that lasted a little longer, wore down the enemy, had high propaganda power, and had a long duration. As a result of the discussions, the decision of death fast was given. In other words, death fast is an action that more than one friend will participate in, but it is also an action that will take a long time. In this long-term action process, the power of propaganda will be very high, it will affect families and affect the movement outside. For this reason, it turned out that the death fast would be more appropriate and more correct. Of course, the Great Death Fast on July 14 would actually have started in earlier processes. Hayri friend has his own expression. Kemal Pir’s friend also has an expression in this context. Friend Mustafa Karasu also has explanations in this sense. In other words, the Great Death Fast of 14 July was actually considered as a belated action. Friend Mustafa Karasu also has explanations in this sense. In other words, the Great Death Fast of 14 July was actually considered as a belated action. Friend Mustafa Karasu also has explanations in this sense. In other words, the Great Death Fast of 14 July was actually considered as a belated action.
In other words, they would have started to take action in the previous processes. However, the delay of this action, that is, it was not a situation arising from friend Hayri or friend Kemal.
Because the start of the action would be given in court. In other words, at the court hearing, Hayri friend would come out and show that they started the action, that they started the death fast, by listing their demands. But every time, the court committee did not give the right to speak to the friends of Hayri Durmuş. So it was automatically delayed. Between the two courts there was a time period of one month, a time period of one month. Imagine, let’s say he wants a voice in a court. Naturally, the action is postponed to another month when the court does not give it. However, when the 14th of July came, Hayri friend insistently wanted to have the right to speak, since the court committee did not give the right to speak to Hayri Durmuş on 14 July 1982, that he would make very important statements, that this important statement would determine the course of the court, He states that he will determine the course of the prison, that there is an explanation that the course of the movement will be given, and on this basis, the court board, in a sense, necessarily gives the right to speak to friend Hayri Durmuş. After being given the right to speak, friend Halil Durmuş is already explaining what the purpose of the torture policy carried out in prison is, what the September 12 regime means, why the September 12 regime developed, why the September 12 military coup took place, what the role of the PKK is in it, the PKK After explaining in detail how the policy of the September 12 regime was carried out in the liquidation of the terrorist organization, there are very serious obstacles to political defense in the current conditions, they are not given the right to speak, and the confessors are given more right to speak,
Of course, when I say I’m going on a death fast, the court board itself first looks at friend Hayri in bewilderment. Then Hayri Durmuş says for a minute… From now on, we will record what you said in the minutes. You don’t need to go on a death fast or take action. presents a general approach that the course may be different in the next period. Hayri Durmuş friend says no. In other words, you did not fulfill the requirements of a single one of the promises you made to us. You are also a part of this policy. In other words, Kemal Yamak, who is the Commander of the 7th Corps, here is the Attorney General and the court committee, as well as Esat Oktay Yıldıran, who operates under the name of the prison internal security chief. In other words, these three units took a primary role in the elimination of the PKK. It is a task given by the September 12 regime.
Diyarbakir Prison was used as a pilot to fulfill the requirements of this task. It was handled and evaluated as a pilot. Therefore, your approach as if you are not a part of these brutal practices applied to us is not correct. You cannot convince us at this point. Because I have repeatedly told you about our situation in this trial, in this court, in this tribune. I told you about the actions of Mazlum Doğan friends. I told you why he took action. I told you why the Four were burning themselves. I told you about the tortures. Even though we were tortured in front of your eyes in this courtroom, no sound came from you. You did not take any action. That’s why I don’t trust your word, I don’t believe it, he said and started his death fast. Later, friend Kemal Pir and a few more friends joined the action initiated by friend Hayri Durmuş at the court. They joined the death fast. Then, of course, the friends came to the prison. I wasn’t in court at that time, so that’s about it. We were in the same cell with friend Akif Yılmaz. As a result of a certain discussion we had with your AKP friend on the news, there was a situation of being included there.
In other words, after two days, Akif started the death fast, which included your friend. Thus, when the friend Hayri Durmuş was put in his own cell after coming to prison, he said: We succeeded, we succeeded. We did it with six people.
In other words, at that time, six people began a death fast in court. Two days later, there were eight people in total with the participation of two friends in prison. In the following processes, of course, there were participations and they grew. And so the Great Death Fast on July 14 began.”
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE BIG ACTION?
Kav also mentioned the purpose of the great death fast and said:
Those who defamed the party were given the right to speak at length. But those who made political defense, those who took care of the party, those who took care of the PKK, were not entirely possible to make promises that could fall into history regarding the history of Kurdistan, the people of Kurdistan. All the soldiers present there, especially the court committee, all the high-ranking delegations there, the military forces that took us to the court under the name of security, were attacking us even in the courtroom. They were torture. Why? Because we don’t talk like Şahin Dönmez and Yıldırım Erkit. They were confessors. They were explaining why we don’t talk like them, why we talk about the PKK, the PKK’s struggle, the Kurds and the history of Kurdistan, and that’s why from prison to court, We were kept under torture from the courtroom to the prison. That was the first. We wanted this to be eliminated. So political defense was part of our struggle.
We wanted to express the history of the PKK, the basic principles of the PKK, the people of Kurdistan in the courtroom, depending on its revolutionary and strategic principles, we wanted to make history. We wanted to document it. Because throughout the history of Kurdistan, no one defended the history of Kurdistan, expressed the reality of the Kurdish people, revealed their political will, and there was no general approach to why the revolts were suppressed and why. Against the enemy, against colonialism, for the first time, PKK cadres and cadres who were in the vanguard of the PKK, friends such as Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir, Mazlum Doğan, wanted to reveal the reality of Kurdistan by making political defense. But there was an obstacle in this sense. The court did not allow this.
Esat Oktay Yıldıran, who is called the prison internal security chief, was subject to very special tortures with himself and his team, especially preventing political defense. It was a request that this app should be removed. The second demand was torture. Diyarbakir Prison was chosen as a pilot document, so it was actually an experimental area. Just as Hitler was experimenting on people in the camps… He was actually experimenting on us in Diyarbakır Prison. In other words, how a person is killed by torture, how strong, sharp, strong or weak a person’s will is through torture… They were actually trying to determine how much force, tyranny and torture people’s bodies endure by torture. And it’s not just some kind of torture. There were thousands of kinds of torture. Along with those practices, of course, he was imposing confession, he was imposing regret in the accompaniment of practices. Along with those practices, he imposed impositions on the basis of not making the political defense, and at the same time, there was an effort to weaken the will by weakening the body, of course. There was a demand for the abolition of these tortures. So the second request. The third demand – I’m talking about the basic demands – is that we are political prisoners in Diyarbakır Prison, that is, we are members of the PKK. Members of the PKK are also prisoners of war. They are also captive. He is also Kurdish. In other words, because we are Kurds, our reaction to Turkification emerged. In other words, as the third item, we want to live there with the Kurdish identity. Not with Turkish identity. We had an approach that they should accept us on that basis. In other words, one of the main impositions there was Turkism. In other words, ‘how happy is the one who says I am a Turk.’ After that, there is an imposition at the point of living on the basis of all the slogans about Turkishness written on the walls. And he was saying that it was a military school, in Esat Oktay’s words, that it was a military school, that everyone here would be Turkish, regardless of our thought or ideology in the past. And naturally, one of our demands in death fast is to put an end to this racism. With our Kurdish identity, with our socialist identity, we wanted to be free and in prison in this sense. There were many other requests. But that was our main demand. There were many demands for a humane life, such as expressing ourselves, the arrival of books and newspapers, and the introduction of reading opportunities. Of course, the demands in the previous process are different. In fact, there is no point in expressing how difficult the death fast process is. Staying in Diyarbakır Prison required having a will of steel in itself. A clear ideology, a clear personality, and an invincible will were needed in a highly responsible mindset towards the revolution. In other words, it is not possible to represent the will, to represent the struggle, to represent the PKK, to represent the Kurdish people and Kurdistan, as soon as any of these basic elements are missing in the Diyarbakir Prison at that time. These basic elements were the elements that connected each other, integrated with each other and revealed a basic resistance personality. clear ideology, clear personality, an invincible will was needed. In other words, it is not possible to represent the will, to represent the struggle, to represent the PKK, to represent the Kurdish people and Kurdistan, as soon as any of these basic elements are missing in the Diyarbakır Prison at that time.
‘FOUR REVOLUTIONARY…’
Touching on the tortures of Diyarbakır Prison and the revolutionary stance of the martyrs, Kav said:
“Staying in Diyarbakir Prison, fighting there, not surrendering, standing up against Esat Oktay’s practices was, as I said, a very difficult and difficult situation on its own. The death fast is ten times that, of course. After all, it is free from all meals and food that nourishes the body. So you go on a death fast. You take nothing but water and cigarettes. And you go on a death fast in very and extremely negative conditions. So each of them lay in a cell and in that cell with countless mice and other insects. Takatten You lie there as a fallen activist. It is possible to empathize and understand how difficult it actually is. Otherwise, it is not possible to express, to describe with words, to give some examples, to someone who is not really living there, who is not involved in that process.It is not possible for those people to be convinced of this either, so there is a need to explain more about those who went on a death fast, and especially those who had the will of steel that led it, lost their current lives there, and became martyrs.
So, for example, let’s say that it is not enough to describe a Kemal Pir. If I describe Kemal Pir, explaining him with words, his stance, his facial expressions, his upright stance against his enemy, I guess I can neither express it enough nor in this context. But Kemal Pir had certain characteristics. We also have the opportunity to see what kind of person emerged, what kind of revolutionary, what kind of PKK militant emerged. We know that Kemal Pir was a friend from the Black Sea region. I can say that he is a complete revolutionary, equipped with extremely revolutionary ideas, ideologically really sharp, politically clear in thought and lifestyle. I emphasize that; an absolute revolutionary.
Of course, every person has some shortcomings and some inadequacies. It is possible to see them and express them when they stand out. But I can easily say here that Kemal Pir does not see any conspicuous, outward defect that he can express and articulate. In other words, I knew Kemal Pir friend in the process before the dungeon. There were times when we stayed together before going to prison before eighties. I always thought about this, but everyone has a mistake, a shortcoming. I mean, you can see it right away when you think about it a little bit, when you stay with it for a while, when you sit down together. I had a special focus on my friend Kemal Pir. What’s wrong with this friend? Is there anything in this friend that I can describe as missing? Both outside and inside. So both before eighty and that hunger mission,
They say that it is a movement that can build the confederal system of the peoples and that is why they joined the PKK. In other words, Kemal Pir expresses these before the court in Diyarbakır in 1981.
In other words, the PKK’s democratic republic, Middle East Confederalism was actually expressed by Kemal Pir in the Diyarbakır courts in 1981. Where did we express this? Why did he do it? Because he had reached such a conclusion as a result of the evaluations and dialogues he had made with President Apo in the period before he went to prison.
In other words, there is no narrow sense of Kurdishism in the ideology of the PKK movement. In the narrow sense, there is no way to establish a Kurdish state and end everything. There is a general approach that the liberation of the people of Turkey, as well as the liberation of the people of the Middle East, will be achieved by the PKK. He speaks candidly, be it a court committee, a prosecutor or a commander Kemal Yamak. Let it be Assad Oktay if he wants. I am Kemal Pir, he used to say. “I cannot go back on my word,” he said. And it was like that when he went on a death fast. For example, when he was martyred, there was an officer called a doctor at that time. It was later revealed that he was a CIA agent. It came out very clear. He was both an MIT agent and a CIA. He was saying to Kemal Pir; He was saying ‘you lost your eye, I can save you, stop the hunger strike while there is still time’. And we were hearing it. Kemal Pir’s frank speech took place there as well. He was saying, ‘So you are a scoundrel, not a doctor, but an executioner’. ‘I am on the verge of death. I am Kemal Pir, you want me to stop the death fast. The life you save will be the life of the enemy, it cannot be the life of a revolutionary’. A revolutionary cannot carry a life to which the enemy has given him a gift.
And lastly, we know that on the fifty-seventh day, with this perspective, on the axis of this speech, he reaches martyrdom in a process that expresses both himself and the enemy. Of course, the PKK’s leading cadre, the cadre we call the core, were friends alike. One is never far superior or inferior to the other. Their features are very close to each other. For example, Hayri Durmuş was the leader of the death fast. A friend who pioneered the death fast, both establishing its basic principles and presenting a general approach to where and how it would end. Of course, his speech in the courtroom is not something that should be handled casually. It was a historic speech. In fact, he was describing a philosophy both in terms of that day, today and tomorrow. He was explaining the basic principles. They were words describing what kind of a movement the PKK was. For example, he said that it is not possible to save Kurdistan unless there is a forced struggle against colonialism, a resistance and a will.
Who was he saying this to? He was saying this to reformists, opportunists, and those who did not advocate armed struggle. Because even these conditions we were in showed very clearly what kind of resistance should lead us. Therefore, if you want to know the enemy, you can get to know him through his practices in Diyarbakır Prison.
The practices in Diyarbakır Prison are also another version of the practices outside, he said. Therefore, he said, revolutionary force must be a weapon that must be applied in an absolute sense in Kurdistan. He told the tribunal: I am a person in the central committee of the PKK. I am responsible for all the actions of the PKK. If I am responsible for the PKK and you are judging me in this context, which you cannot, you have no right, then let me make a defense then. Let me tell you what the PKK is. Let me tell you what Kurdistan, the people of Kurdistan, is. So let me tell you about the struggle process of the people who emerged in Kurdistan and the defeats of the struggle. I am also responsible for it, but if you do not allow it, then we will talk differently. We will express ourselves otherwise. There is no one way in the PKK. There is no situation in the PKK that I can express myself in just one sentence. There are thousands of sentences. The PKK can express itself in any way. There are many paths and trials. Well, he can express himself in this sense.
‘HAYRİ DURMUŞ GIVEN PEOPLE Courage’
He was saying that if you don’t allow me to express the PKK’s political defense, Turkey’s history and reality in this courtroom, then I will speak differently. And what he said otherwise was the death fast. The action of Mazlum Doğan and Dörtler is a guide for me, a guide, and I will follow them, he said. Therefore, he was on a death fast.
From that point of view, Hayri Durmuş is a revolutionary who is extremely mature, modest, able to endure all difficulties very quietly, internally silently, does not have a single complaint, does not have a single complaint despite all kinds of difficulties, and always keeps his pioneering position at the highest level. . Sometimes we were together. He was a quiet revolutionary, both in prison and during his death fast, but storming deep within his soul. He was a pioneer. He was actually a leader.
For this reason, the first thing that comes to mind when Hayri Durmuş is mentioned is the courage he gave you. He was like a dervish. So he took the binoculars on his back. Here are the people walking around for the revolution, walking around, hungry, thirsty, but never whining or complaining, wandering from house to house, from street to street, organizing people, organizing young people, organizing women, walking without breathing for the revolution… Hayri Durmuş His attitude, especially during the death fast, was truly magnificent. Why? Just one example… Left on concrete. They did not give him mattresses or mattresses. A blanket is a military blanket. On the blanket. So he stayed there for sixty-six days. Although he was emaciated, he remained silent. So he didn’t say to his enemy, ‘why don’t you give it to me’. He didn’t see the need to say it. Even Kemal Pir friend once said ‘I will ask’. Why did he give us this cushion? ‘No, don’t say it. “They know very well why you didn’t,” he said. ‘They consciously started a death fast, I started the action, the enemy does not give me a cushion. He said, “Let’s not accept it either, it is not right, that is, we accept it.”
He was a great predictor of thought. His last focus was on political defense. The Kurds who were imprisoned and the Kurds who were put on trial were executed. They were always tortured. Let’s keep it from the Independence Tribunals, and in the seventies, no one told the history of Kurdistan in the military courts. He did not tell the history of the PKK, the history of the organizations. We want to explain the history of Kurdistan from a more accurate perspective here. Let’s explain more scientifically. Who were the Kurds? Where did it come from? What kind of people was involved in the process? Why did these revolts occur? Why were these people suppressed? How was it suppressed? With what practices were the people of Kurdistan subjected to genocide? passed? We need to record them in the minutes. We need to express them frankly in front of the court. In addition, the PKK, that is, a modern movement, the PKK’s ideology, politics, We need to explain the organization and its stance. These are all important. Future Kurdish youth will look at them. This is what we wanted to do, they would have learned how we lived. For this reason, Hayri Durmuş was the friend who stood most on the defense.
‘HE WAS SILENT BUT THINKING BIG, AKIF YILMAZ…’
Friends of Akif Yılmaz joined after the second day of the action. I stayed in the same cell with him.
What comes to mind when Akif Yılmaz is mentioned? It is possible to say a true comrade, a heval who is extremely mature, quiet but thinks big, does not talk much but talks big, does not talk much but listens a lot, knows how to live in harmony with his friends and comrades. He was a friend who resisted deeply, without making too much noise, without making too much noise. As I said, he persistently participated in the death fast process. It’s not that easy to join in prison. After all, you had to risk the torture. You had to risk death. You had to take many risks. Despite everything, he was saying that from this stage onwards, starting from the death fast action led by friend Hayri Durmuş, following the rules and standing in the main stance against Esat Oktay would be a much greater betrayal of the Turkish state. And therefore, he stated that he would also participate in this action in the absolute sense, and thus he participated in the action. In fact, on May 18, 1982, he was going to put forward an act of self-sacrifice. It was the anniversary of the martyrdom of your friend Haki Karer. He had planned such an action in order to protest by sacrificing himself. But later, when the situation of hunger strike and death fast emerged, this sacrifice gave up this action. He said, “If there will be a death fast action at that time, if another action will be on the agenda then, I will also be involved in that action.” He had planned such an action in order to protest by sacrificing himself. But later, when the situation of hunger strike and death fast emerged, this sacrifice gave up this action. He said, “If there will be a death fast action at that time, if another action will be on the agenda then, I will also be involved in that action.” He had planned such an action in order to protest by sacrificing himself. But later, when the situation of hunger strike and death fast emerged, this sacrifice gave up this action. He said, “If there will be a death fast action at that time, if another action will be on the agenda then, I will also be involved in that action.”
In other words, he was a friend who thought deeply and was extremely consistent and determined not to make concessions to the enemy.
‘THE GREATNESS OF THE ACTION SHOWS THE GREATNESS OF THOSE WHO REACHED THE MARTYR’
Why do I feel the need to tell friends one by one? Because the death fast is a historical act. He considers it National Day of Honor, President Apo.
And the Great Death Fast of 14 July is also a groundbreaking action in the history of Kurdistan. It was also a call for cadres working in the Middle East. It was a call to struggle against fascism. It was also a challenge.
However, those who carried out this action, this magnificent action, those who pioneered it, the activists who knead this action with their own bodies, of course, cannot be explained. In other words, the size of the action also expresses the size of those who took part in that action and those who became martyrs. Otherwise, it won’t make much sense if we isolate the action from its heroes. Then we come across the following: Well, who are the perpetrators of this action? So what were the perpetrators of this action? What features did they have? What level were their personalities? In this sense, the need to integrate the action and the heroes of this action is extremely necessary and historical. Otherwise it will be missing. That’s why I feel the need to tell those friends a little bit.
‘ALI ÇİÇEK WAS A LEGEND, A RED STAR!’
Ali Çiçek, on the other hand, was a legend in itself. He is a young friend and I know that friend from outside. In other words, we were operating together before we went to prison. He was a friend who took part in the armed struggle as the youngest friend in Urfa, Hilvan, and Siverek. He then becomes involved in the investigation process. In other words, he is one of the friends who do not give secrets in torture. One sentence; ‘I’m not talking to you, I’m not telling you anything, you can untie me if you dare.’ Such was his expression. I mean, he came without a statement. As one of the young cadres of the prison, he joins the courtroom as a second friend after Hayri Durmuş’s friend explains the action. Despite the court’s insistence that ‘there is no need’, ‘PKK is not surrendering to us, not betrayal, but He taught me about resistance. And there he starts the death fast in that courtroom. He is a young, agile friend, with an extremely advanced intellect, and an endless and boundless commitment to the revolution. A friend who carries the militant measures at the highest level, but at the same time. His resistant feature was a friend who was much more intensely advanced. So, when Ali Çiçek is mentioned, we think of resistance. When you say Ali Çiçek, we think of him saying ‘if you have the courage, you can untie me’ during the police interrogation. Even though he is much younger, he is a friend of the armed groups in Hilvan, who fights against the Süleymanlar tribe day and night. For this reason, one of the friends who constituted the basic cement of this action is Ali Çiçek. And there he starts the death fast in that courtroom. He is a young, agile friend, with an extremely advanced intellect, and an endless and boundless commitment to the revolution. A friend who carries the militant measures at the highest level, but at the same time. His resistant feature was a friend who was much more intensely advanced.
For example, Halil Durmuş friend called him ‘red star’. His fight against the police was utterly unrestrained and fruitful. Hayri Durmuş’s attitude in prison, his stance, his frank speech against the Esat Oktay system, his upright behavior, and his participation in the death fast brought him to mind. He called it the red star. Of course, Kemal Pir, who spoke and discussed in action, was also a student of your friend. In 1979, friend Kemal Pir was in Adana Prison, while friend Ali Çiçek was caught in Urfa at that time and taken to Adana Prison. Kemal Pir stays with his friend in Adana Prison. He grows up there at the same time, that is, Kemal Pir, friend Ali Cicek, while he is in Adana Prison, stands on it to a great extent.
In the later process, while your friend Kemal Pir was escaping from Urfa Prison, Ali Çiçek was made by a friend. In other words, his development process and paths always intersect with Kemal Pir friend. It turns out to be staying together in Diyarbakır Prison in ’79, and later escaping from Urfa Prison, staying together in Diyarbakır Prison and going on a death fast together. In other words, Ali Çiçek is actually fed by Kemal Pir. Ideologically it feeds on it. It feeds on it politically, it takes its moral level from there. For this reason, as the youngest soldier of the 14 July Great Fast, he also reaches martyrdom on his 67th day.”
