our interviews

How has the PKK’s approach changed in relation to the war that was originally started with the establishment of the HRK, continued by the ARGK and is now being waged by the modern and professional guerrilla? How do you assess the level that the guerrilla struggle has reached? Also, the action against the TAI in Ankara is currently being discussed in both a political and military context, what can you tell us about this? In this context, how has the understanding of fedai¹ developed in the PKK?

The guerrilla, defense, self-defense, resistance, and war are concepts that are being discussed broadly and should be discussed even more. As the attacks of the AKP-MHP fascism increase, as the fascist, repressive mentality and politics in Europe, America, and other parts of the world develop and strive towards power, this becomes everyone’s concern. That European discourse of democratic systems and possibilities disappears. Everyone’s situation is getting more similar to each other. Therefore, revolutionaries and socialists are discussing these concepts again. In the past some time, they have moved away from this. When the Soviet Union dissolved, there was despair and pessimism. There were more ruptures, but now, as they are influenced by the apoist thought, which is renewing itself and emerging as a new leadership with a paradigm shift, and as fascist oppression, terror, persecution, and threats increase, these concepts are coming to the agenda again for socialists. They become issues that need to be discussed, understood correctly, and applied by finding practical solutions. From the beginning, the PKK envisioned this for Kurdistan and took it as a basis.

People ask what the PKK’s difference from other organizations was. Like we stated before, there was one main difference: other organizations could not break away from the system. The PKK was able to do this by focusing on the mentioned concepts. How can one exist, protect one’s existence, reach freedom, and protect even what one has won without being able to break away from a system that practices so much oppression, persecution, violence, massacre, and genocide without being able to resist its armed attacks? This is not possible. This is why the PKK was right from the beginning. It did not make a mistake in this regard. Other organizations, those who claimed to be the Kurdish leadership, said one thing, and Rêber Apo² said another. A fundamental aspect that distinguished Rêber Apo from them was that he was not mistaken on this issue. His correct understanding of the Kurdish reality, the reality of Kurdistan, and more importantly, his courage and sacrifice to fight against this reality. Many others could see it, but they did not have that courage, that will, and that strength. He recognized the enemy, analyzed the theory of force, analyzed war, and analyzed the warlike structure of the power and state system. He analyzed the wars of self-defense waged against it, and on this basis, he saw the guerrilla as the most fundamental method, as the basic method that enables the weak to fight and win against the strong, as a mentality, as a style, and he trained, equipped, and organized the guerrilla, starting by organizing himself accordingly. With no other option left to struggle against the fascist military regime of September 12, the guerrilla offensive was launched on October 15, 1984. Based on the basic conception and understanding of the guerrilla and the prevailing theory of war, many conclusions could be drawn. The guerrillas in Kurdistan were not detached from previous experiences with guerrilla warfare, but they did not implement it one-to-one. Concepts were adapted according to the specific situation in Kurdistan. This was possible through Rêber Apo’s creative approach. He took the practical experience as the basis. He has looked at the practical experiences with guerrilla warfare, how the guerrilla must develop, and how it can be successful. The experiences made in other countries were not repeated one-to-one in Kurdistan, though. He looked at the conditions under which a guerrilla could be successful in Kurdistan and developed a guerrilla theory accordingly, transforming the guerrilla into a partisan movement. No ordinary army was created. Yes, there was talk of a people’s army, but the guerrilla had succeeded in developing a new methodology that was not joined by the ignorant but only by those who educated themselves and became militants of the party and developed a corresponding understanding. This is how the guerrilla developed in Kurdistan.

It gradually moved away from old experiences with others, more and more with its confidence in its own power, its organization, its level of consciousness, and its courageous and fedai struggle. The PKK created a guerrilla that was fully based on socialist, communal, and collective principles and was able to implement the life of the party among its ranks at the highest rank, living a socialist life. That was something others were lacking. They were after power and a statist mentality and followed an ordinary understanding of commanders and soldiers. At the beginning, the PKK actually wanted to follow that too, but it was recognized that this could not be successful under the circumstances in Kurdistan. The power of the enemy, the way actions could be carried out, but also the connection to the people were all very different from elsewhere.

The guerrilla was the party’s form of organization and action in practice. It was always a force of education, organization, and action. The Kurdish guerrilla was never a narrow military force. Neither theoretically did Rêber Apo define it as such, nor in practice did the HRK, ARGK, or later the HPG become a guerrilla movement organized along such a narrow military line. No, it was always an ideological, political, and active force. The guerrilla became a vanguard force that educates, organizes, mobilizes, leads, and commands the people. Party leadership was embodied in the guerrilla both in action and in daily life. This has gradually deepened with the paradigm shift and has become even more concrete. Since the time when the guerrilla was still fighting for the establishment of a Kurdish nation state, it has undergone a major transformation. When it broke away from the nation state mentality and became a democratic and social movement based on women’s liberation and ecology, it became a self-defense force of society. It already defined itself as a social self-defense force before; the PKK was shaped as such a self-defense force, and the guerrilla emerged as the most active striking vanguard force, constituting 80 to 90 percent. But then it broke away from the aim of gaining power and establishing its own state. Its targets have changed, its way of striking has changed, and so has its internal organization. A new guerrilla emerged, and a new guerrilla leadership that realized the line of democratic modernity was formed. But it is not possible to defend society only with the guerrilla. The guerrilla is professional revolutionism, vanguardism. For whom will it be a pioneer? For society, first and foremost for women, young people, workers, and laborers, so that they can defend themselves.

Kurds used to be a peasant society. And so the guerrilla developed in the countryside within the village society. The guerrilla developed in the mountains, which were inhabited mainly by peasants. With the paradigm shift, Rêber Apo envisioned a struggle that unites the struggle in the mountains, the cities, and the plain. Later, society was separated from the mountains, villages were burned down and destroyed, and the people were concentrated in the cities. The self-defense force is where society is. It will be in society; it will be based on society. Now there is a guerrilla vanguard developing on this basis, and there is a struggle for self-defense based on this. Guerrilla leadership is more professional than ever before and symbolizes party militancy. It is based on it’s own strength and is most competent in applying its own strength.

The peak of this was the action against the TAI in Ankara. Those who carried out the action were militants of the ‘Battalion of the Immortals’. The most professional and trained force ideologically, organizationally, and militarily. It is a force that knows no obstacles and successfully overcomes all kinds of hindrances. No power can hold it back. The fascist AKP-MHP and its state could not prevent Asya Ali and Rojger Helin regardless of all the force it receives from NATO, Russia, and everywhere else. This is the peak of guerrilla leadership. This is the professional guerrilla. It has organized and shaped itself in many such structures, and now, as you say, these are being discussed both politically and militarily.

How can it be evaluated militarily? It shook both the Turkish state and, in fact, everyone else as well. The state had made a lot of propaganda, saying that it is in control of everything and that no guerrilla activity could take place anymore. It said, “We have ended terrorism.” Well, it turned out that it was empty propaganda. Neither could they prevent the guerrilla from taking action, nor was it capable of protecting.

The action against the TAI proved once again that there is no force that can stop a militant who is trained and organized in the ideology of Rêber Apo, who gains a courageous and fedai character, and who participates in this life correctly with consciousness and conviction. There is no enemy that such a force cannot strike and defeat. There is no victory it cannot achieve. It set an example for the guerrilla. They realized what Rêber Apo meant when he said that the human is the most advanced technique, superior to all technic. This is the war of the vanguard professional guerrilla. Liberation and freedom cannot be achieved without it. Politics may change, new political structures may develop, but society always needs defense. “There can be no rose without thorns,” said Rêber Apo. He came up with the theory of the rose. If you want to be a rose, you will have to have thorns. In order to remain beautiful as a rose, you will have to have thorns that will prick the hand that reaches out to you. If you want to live free, you will always have to have the power of self-defense to resist attacks on your free life. You will have to have a defensive mechanism, have to be conscious and organized, and you will have to be capable of taking action. If one leaves the protection of oneself to an outside force, then there is no real protection, no freedom. One has to form one’s own self-defense. Self-defense of society needs to be developed, especially by women and youth. We are still at the beginning in this regard. There are many shortcomings. In fact, as I pointed out, the guerrilla was aiming to create a regular army along the lines of the nation-state; it was going to be its pioneer, but now the guerrilla aims to create social self-defense along the paradigm of ecological and democratic society, based on women’s liberation. It aims to turn the people into their own self-defense army. It aims to create a people defending themselves and fighting for their own defense. The defense line of democratic modernity is based on this.

Right now there is not much I want to add to the political discussions surrounding the attack aimed at the TAI. Many circles are discussing the circumstances in their own way according to their own interests, but one can say that as long as there is the so-called Kurdish problem, that is, the mentality, politics, and attack with which the Turkish state targets the Kurdish people, aiming for their annihilation, there will be such resistances. Everyone should be aware of this. No one can prevent this resistance. Maybe it will happen again today, maybe tomorrow, maybe at some other time, but it will definitely happen again. In order to exist, in order for Kurds to live free, they have to do this. They have acquired such consciousness. There is no point in pulling left and right. They eventually showed everyone the right path. They revealed the existing danger. If you want to get rid of the danger, then be serious, approach the Kurdish question correctly, and work on a solution. It was revealed once again that there is no other solution for the Kurds, for the society in Turkey, or for the Turkish state other than the solution power of Rêber Apo. And it became also clear once more that what the state currently calls a solution is a disaster. There was a time when they thought they could do whatever they wanted with the Kurds. That is long gone. Those who thought so have burned their fingers. To summarize, politically, we can only say that we invite and call everyone to common sense.

States, above all the Turkish state, are targeting women and the youth more than ever before. The focus lies not only on physical attacks, but also on emotional and psychological ones, while also mind games are being played. Rêber Apo has said: “We started young and will succeed young!”, while the PKK also sees itself as a party based on women’s freedom. Accordingly, what is the role of women and youth in the PKK? Why are women and youth being targeted so specifically? And what kind of struggle should be waged against such attacks?

The PKK is a women’s party, as well as the PKK is a party of the youth. It was born as an intellectual youth movement, and it went from there to becoming a party. The intellectual youth has always led the movement of workers, peasants, and laborers. And it was women who gave an ideological line to this struggle, who organized and implemented themselves in practice as the most fundamental pioneering force of struggle. Therefore, from the beginning, although it was defined as a national liberation movement, a working class party, a people’s movement, it was a movement based on youth and women, organizing them, being fed and carried out by them.

In the new paradigm, the leading role and mission were strategically given to women and youth. Before, the participation of women and youth was effective, but with the new paradigm, the two leading forces of the revolution, of the revolution of truth, of the revolution of mentality and lifestyle, became the women and the youth. They are not just a part of the movement; they are not just a side organization of the revolution and the party; on the contrary, they are the basis, the vanguard. They are everywhere; they carry out all kinds of work. Because the PKK considers the women’s liberation revolution as the foundation of its revolution with the new paradigm. It envisions creating a free life and democratic society based on women’s freedom. The woman’s liberation determines the characteristics of a free life. Women’s freedom is not just a slightly influential force; it is decisive.

The youth is the part of society that is most open to democratic communal life and to becoming free individuals. The youth is the part of society that is the least contaminated with dirt and rust and that does not participate in these games and exploitation of the power and the state. Therefore, its mental, emotional, and intellectual state is closest to the line of the free individual and the democratic commune, and it expresses a power that learns, assimilates, adopts, and implements it most easily. The ideology of the free individual and the democratic commune is carried out by the youth as its leadership. It draws its cadres from the youth. It finds its masses in the youth, together with women as pioneers. The youth spirit is the most open and closest to consciousness, the measures of life, the free individual, and the democratic commune. There are inadequacies and shortcomings in this regard. Sure, there are still deficiencies in understanding; there can be deficiencies and mistakes in defining it as such and fulfilling it in practice. There are some that call themselves vanguard but see themselves on the sidelines like a separate branch. They see themselves as separate. Such approaches can emerge, and they show that there is still not sufficient understanding and that there are problems in the practical implementation. Those need to be overcome. They themselves are responsible; they themselves must take upon the responsibility of pioneership. This is how the youth and women must embrace the movement.

Now that this is the case, it is understandable why the fascist ruling forces of the colonialist, genocidal system, and the special war deliberately target the youth and women first and foremost. They want to eliminate them; they want to strike them down. The vanguard of the revolution, the main force, the creator, and the executor of the movement will always be in the center of the attacks by the fascist, colonialist, genocidal mentality and system. They form the most courageous and fedai line; they are the ones who struggle the most; therefore, it is the force that the enemy targets and attacks the most. This is why the special war targets youth and women. If it weakens the youth and women, renders them ineffective, plays with their understanding and emotions, prevents their participation, excludes them from mass organizations, and leaves the youth and women’s movement weak, then it will weaken and limit the freedom revolution. It will lead to liquidation. To the extent that it crushes the youth and women, it will succeed in its attacks to destroy and liquidate the PKK. The staff of the special war system know this very well. Therefore, they attack women, youth, and children the most.

It is said that one out of eight people faces abuse. Such statistics are given. They say that about eight thousand children have been murdered, but in the press only one or two cases had been reflected. There is a state that slaughters its own children. It’s like in the Jahiliyyah period! Back then they buried the children alive; today they slaughter them. These are physical massacres, and there are also the psychological, emotional, and mental massacres. Where and how do they use those children they kidnapped? It never became clear. No living being is as hostile to its own future, its future generation, or its own children as the power, fascist, colonialist, genocidal, mentality, and politics within the system of capitalist modernity. While it should be the one to protect and preserve them, it does the opposite in practice. It has come to this level. Anti-society has reached this level in the system of capitalist modernity. This is what it means to become unlivable. The destruction of society and nature has become unbearable.

One needs to be aware of these realities and face them actively and consciously. One should not simply complain. It is necessary to know and understand the enemy as an enemy and show the strength to fight against it. Simply complaining but not taking action is also bad and dangerous. Not only does it not prevent the colonialist, genocidal mentality and system from developing these massacres, it also creates the ground for them. Especially women and the youth should not complain and wonder why this is happening; it is obvious why. They should turn themselves into a force for liberation and struggle for getting rid of this. They must reach a level of consciousness and organization to become a force of liberation. This is not an impossible task, as long as they want it and work for it. This is what the PKK, what Rêber Apo taught us. We have seen that this is possible. We need to become more conscious, organized, and engaged in struggle on these issues.

We are in the 21st century and we see in Kurdistan that the PKK has become a center of internationalist struggle. Historically it used to be Palestine and Cuba, and today Kurdistan has become its source. What does this mean? How was it possible for Rêber Apo and the PKK to overcome the nationalist borders? What significance do these developments have for Kurdistan?

Globally, the search has not diminished. There is no normal life; on the contrary, the future of society and nature is in great danger. The earth is at stake. Rêber Apo was talking about “cancerization.” Capitalist modernity has become cancerous, threatening nature, society, and the earth. That is why nobody is comfortable with life. Women, youth, workers, laborers, and the peoples face oppression, exploitation, and persecution. May it be in Africa, in America, in Asia, in the Middle East, or in Europe, it is the same everywhere. That is why the people are searching. The people are widely seeking liberation from this situation. The search for such liberation has never ended, but it may have paused or dropped to a low level when Real Socialism, which they saw as a savior, dissolved. Their hopes were dashed; they couldn’t find a way out there either. They wondered how it should be done after this route had not worked either. But thirty years have passed, criticism has developed, new ideas have emerged, new theories developed, and many philosophers, intellectuals, politicians, and artists thought, researched, concentrated, and wrote. Rêber Apo developed the most comprehensive effort in this regard. With a very radical paradigm shift. He defined a new thesis of history along the lines of democratic civilization. He defined its modernity today as democratic modernity. He defined democratic civilization against the ruling and statist civilization, democratic modernity against capitalist modernity. He showed the path of liberation for all the oppressed.

The ideas of Rêber Apo, the idea of freedom, of Kurdish existence in the face of colonialism and genocide, when they were expressed courageously and valorously, affected everyone. It affected the youth in Kurdistan, especially the youth in universities, high schools, and women. It intensely affected workers and laborers. The PKK developed based on this, and the philosophy of Rêber Apo gained strength from this. The PKK developed in 1976; in 1978 it became a party; and in 1979 and 1980 it nearly organized its first serhildans³. It reached a point at which it was capable of raising society to its feet. Against September 12 fascism, it developed many uprisings and the guerrilla offensive. When small guerrilla units moved from the mountain to fight against the enemy, when they reached the society, they were embraced by the peasantry. The current state of the world is a bit like Kurdistan in the ’70s in terms of the search and the danger it is facing. Everyone is in search of salvation. Internationalism as a concept has not lost its meaning. There is no weakening in this regard.

So why is it said that solidarity and support for the various movements have declined and become weaker? The reason for this should be sought in the purpose of those movements. We need to look for it in their paradigm. It used to be said that there was a difference between the nationalism of the oppressed and that of the oppressors. That the nationalism of the oppressed was justified. The struggles in Vietnam, Cuba, and Palestine were supported on the basis of a national understanding. But what was the result? Today, Vietnam is one of Germany’s closest partners and sends its citizens to serve in Germany, as Turkey did in the past. Palestine did not receive the support of the Arabs because they were so fragmented among themselves. The goal that the internationalists were aiming for with their support and solidarity was not achieved. They were excited for a while, calling for independence, freedom, and liberation, but the paradigm they were based on, the nation-state ideology they followed, did not lead them to independence and freedom. It did not lead to liberation. Now, the only force that has truly realized the consequences of this is the movement of Rêber Apo. This is shown in Kurdistan and in the developments in North and East Syria. The PKK is the only movement left that has realized in practice what it aimed for and what it targeted, and therefore its thought and practice are one; its theory and practice are one. It does what it says and says what it does. It lives and works as it says. People see this all over the world.

With the global freedom campaign, there has been a consciousness raising. The Rojava Revolution brought some new realities on the agenda. With the Jin Jiyan Azadi revolution, women showed the way to real liberation. On this basis, the prison writings of Rêber Apo were translated into different languages, and his thoughts spread all over the world on the basis of the global freedom campaign. People got to know him and see Rêber Apo in the right way. They see the developments in Kurdistan, and they flow here. There are such clearly recognizable developments. We have to admit that we still have shortcomings in this respect and that we are late. We need to expand this even further. The translation of the prison writings into all languages must be accelerated, and they must be distributed to all women, young people, workers, and laborers.

A new internationalism is emerging. It is not based on interests as in the past, but on democratic confederalism, on democratic unity in which everyone stands up for their own freedom. Knowledge of global democratic confederalism and its practical implementation is increasing. The world is moving towards democratic confederalism. Anyone who feels constrained by the fascism and nationalism of the nation state finds a solution in democratic confederalism. The existing system of the UN as a union of states is not a solution. It leads to war, bloodshed, new colonialism, hunger, and pandemics. Against this, the path of the unity of democratic nations and global democratic confederalism is opening up. People are giving it more and more importance and are moving more and more towards it. On this basis, recognizable developments are taking place. Nobody knew the Kurds. It seems that they were only discovered at the end. But now people are getting closer to the Kurds, and today there are many nations that support them because they see that the Kurds have done a great service to all nations through the struggle they are waging. Everyone now sees their own liberation in the paradigm of Rêber Apo and sees the experiences of the struggle in Kurdistan.

The PKK has created itself by evaluating the experience of the peoples of the world, the experience of the struggles of workers, laborers, and women. It came into existence in the seventies and eighties by drawing on the experience of struggles around the world. Now everyone sees the level that has emerged in the PKK as their own. The PKK also saw other peoples’ levels as its own. Because of this, those peoples also see what emerged in the PKK and what is happening in Kurdistan as their own and embrace it. This assumption of responsibility will develop more and more. A global consciousness will develop. It has to develop; otherwise, this system of capitalist modernity will destroy everything, and it will lead to even more decay.

Kurdistan is at the center of the Third World War in the Middle East. The status quo created in the 20th century is crumbling. What kind of phase lies ahead for the Kurds regarding the creation of a new status quo? What are the aspirations of the PKK in the new year of its struggle? What role and responsibility has the Kurdish freedom movement identified for itself in this phase?

Kurdistan is the center of the struggle for democracy and freedom, the center of the siblinghood of the peoples on the basis of women’s freedom. The center of the women’s liberation revolution. In the ongoing war for the new division of the world, various regional and global forces are in conflict with each other to seize the treasures of Kurdistan. Kurdistan is one of the centers of this war, but it is not the only one. The more the war develops, the more these centers develop and change. It has been over 30 years, approaching 35 years, that a world war is taking place between the nation states that strive for the creation of a new status quo. This is the Third World War.

The monopolist capitalist order wants to restructure the Middle East through this war. One hundred years ago, during and after the First World War, the Middle East was created on the basis of the nation state system under the leadership of Turkey and Iran. Now it is wanted to restructure the Middle East within the framework of a new energy route project based on the Arab-Israeli reconciliation, which envisages faster, easier movement and more exploitation of capital beyond the borders of nation-states. The war waged by the system has the power to change the old. The status quo cannot withstand these attacks. It is being hit and will eventually be overcome. The global capital system, with its logic of maximum profit, will succeed if it is not prevented by an alternative. Nation state status quo will not be able to prevent this. It is resisting, but it certainly cannot prevent it. While there is still resistance for the status quo, the system prepares the change for more exploitation, for more profit.

There are many centers of these attacks in the Middle East. It started in Gaza; now it is Lebanon, Syria; tomorrow it will be Turkey. Turkey is at the center of this. They want to make the Kurds responsible for this, but there is no such thing. Turkey has dozens of problems, like the so-called Kurdish problem. The Kurdish question is an important issue, but Turkey should review its own structure. It has no place in this system. It is now at the center of the attacks of the monopolist capital. Kurdistan is the center of the alternative. The center of the freedom struggle, the center of the war for freedom. It is not the center of the world war; it is the center of the struggle to stop the war. It is necessary to correctly define what Kurdistan is the center of. Kurdistan is the center of creating an alternative that will end this world war. It is the center of the struggle for an alternative. As the alternative, democratic modernity, develops, it will eliminate and limit these wars that arise from the internal contradictions and conflicts of capitalist modernity and the struggle for interests. There lies the main creative force of peace. Rêber Apo is the leader of world peace. There are calls that the Imrali system must be dismantled urgently, that Rêber Apo must intervene in the situation, that he must make the lead for an alternative in Kurdistan more effective, and that he must create and lead the developments that will stop the war. These are right and appropriate calls.

How are the conflicts between the forces whose interests lie in the Third World War developing? We discuss this and try to understand. We want to benefit from it in terms of our own struggle. There is no doubt that opportunities and possibilities arise for us, and this will also expand. That goes without saying. The US and Europe are part of the Israeli attack. It is not only Israel that is attacking; it is attacking on behalf of a system. They will shrink Iran and Turkey even further. At the forefront, they are dealing with Iraq and Syria, but this should actually be seen as a struggle against Iran and Turkey, as representatives of the nation state status quo. They will have the most difficulty. But of course, there is also the alternative struggle to create a democratic Turkey, democratic Syria, democratic Iraq, and democratic Iran based on Kurdish freedom. This is also a force for change, the most fundamental force for change, for the benefit of the peoples, women, workers, and laborers. Who is the struggle between? There is a war between the monopolistic circles of interest within the system of capitalist modernity. One side is the current status quo; the other side wants change. But there is also the struggle of the forces for an alternative, the forces of the democratic modernity to change this status quo, and the struggle for the change to be in the interests of women, workers, laborers, and peoples, based on the democratic Middle East confederalism.

So far, the global capital system has given all kinds of opportunities to the status quo forces, especially the AKP-MHP fascism, to destroy and liquidate the PKK in order to prevent an alternative. They have attacked the PKK for ten years without listening to any rules, measures, or morals, especially on the basis of the so-called ‘plan to force them on their knees’. This is the isolation system in Imrali; this is the full-blown attack on the guerrilla, and this is the massacre of the people. They calculated that they would first weaken and neutralize the PKK, and then they could better wage the war of interests among themselves. But no matter how much they attacked, they failed. Their attacks on the PKK were frustrated. They were rendered unsuccessful. The Imrali torture and isolation system could not create even an inch of weakening and regression in Rêber Apo’s resistance. Now they are in a deadlock. They cannot develop enough conflict among themselves, nor can they unite against the PKK for a longer period of time. Even if they did, they could not achieve results. They have no time left. They are and will be launching more attacks, faster and more desperate attacks. But this will not last for a long time. They cannot maintain their unity as they have done so far. Internal contradictions will gradually increase. The alternative, the democratic Middle East alternative based on Kurdish freedom, has the possibility to develop and spread faster and faster. They attacked with all their means but will end up seeking reconciliation.

What is the role of the PKK in this context? We resisted against all attacks by showing all kinds of courage and sacrifice. Rêber Apo resisted; the heroic guerrilla resisted in Zap, Metina, Xakurke, Avashin, and all of northern Kurdistan. Women and the youth resisted, our people resisted, and our international friends resisted. In four parts of Kurdistan, all over the world. In the last year, on the basis of the global freedom campaign aiming for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo, we have taken this resistance to the highest level. We have made it multifaceted and diverse. We have brought it to a stage that will yield important results. Now we will try to bring it to a conclusion. This is the goal within the 47th year of the PKK. The torture and isolation system of Imrali will be broken. The physical freedom of Rêber Apo will be ensured, and those who want to destroy the guerrilla will be defeated by the guerrilla. The guerrilla will put them in a deadlock, and they will collapse. We are in a process in which the AKP-MHP fascism will collapse. There will be very intense and rapid developments in this 47th year of the PKK. In order to better confront and break the enemy attacks, to end this impasse by fighting more effectively, to stop the bloodshed and tears, and to create a democratic Turkey based on Kurdish freedom, a democratic Middle East, we will struggle with all our strength. We are now at a level to achieve results in this regard because the enemy is at the point of exhaustion; they have exhausted all their means. We can wage more effective struggles. They can no longer maintain their unity among themselves as they have done until now. They will develop more rot within themselves, and they will not be able to withstand. We aim to make this 47th year a year of greater struggle, a year of greater achievements, a year of ensuring the physical freedom of Rêber Apo and solving the Kurdish question. This is a slogan that has now turned from propaganda into reality. In the past, it was a slogan of propaganda. Now it is a slogan of action. On this basis, the Kurdish people and their international friends are on their feet everywhere; women and youth are resisting; the guerrilla is resisting. The enemy’s attack power has been minimized.

It is a critical process, though; we need to be careful. It is necessary not to make mistakes in precaution, but the struggle must grow and develop in every field. We must make the 47th year of the PKK a year in which the freedom struggle develops and achieves great victories in every field. This is our hope, and we trust that this will be the case. We call on all our people and international friends to organize the struggle more strongly and develop it more effectively wherever they are, regardless of the circumstances. Once again, we congratulate our people on the anniversary of the founding of the party. We are convinced that they will develop the freedom struggle with even greater enthusiasm and that they will grow our freedom struggle by embracing Rêber Apo and our martyrs, and we wish them success.

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