our interviews

The Kurdish freedom movement is entering a new year of struggle. This transition is characterized by various discussions. While the international pressure for the release of the peoples leader Abdullah Öcalan is increasing, and accordingly the demand for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, the Turkish state is trying to escape this, trying to play with the agenda and creating false expectations. What can you tell us about this?

The PKK is entering its 47th year of struggle more prepared, planned, and determined than ever before. We will develop the 47th year struggle with the central aim of physically liberating Rêber Apo¹, becoming stronger in every field and achieving important results. This is our stance; this is how we enter the year. Based on this, we salute the 47th anniversary of our party and call on all comrades, our people, and international friends to struggle harder and be even more successful in the 47th year struggle.

Not long ago, we received the greetings of Rêber Apo. I greet him with deep longing and respect. On the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the founding of the PKK, I congratulate Rêber Apo’s. I state that in the 47th year we will fight stronger and achieve greater successes following the path of the Rêber Apo and the party.

On October 23rd, Rêber Apo’s nephew Omer Ocalan came to Imrali, and they held a meeting. Rêber Apo expressed the situation clearly in this meeting. He expressed essentially two points: firstly, the isolation continues, and secondly, he said that if the appropriate conditions are created, he has the power to play a role, to play a role in the solution of the Kurdish question and democratization. While revolutionary, democratic, and patriotic circles are discussing and trying to understand what Rêber Apo expressed in order to make steps, other circles are speculating in a negative way and searching for ways to ensure their own interests.

The developing struggle and the level that the Third World War has reaches, which continues on a global scale, have indeed put the Turkish state, particularly the AKP and MHP fascism, into a complete deadlock and brought it to collapse. This catastrophe is stemming from the state’s anti-Kurdish colonialist, genocidal mentality, and politics, and mainly from the AKP and MHP fascist dictatorship. We were warning them many times that they were dragging Turkey into a catastrophe. Already in the prison writings, Rêber Apo made according analyses and warnings. But they did not listen; they did not want to listen; they did not want to understand. Now that reality has caught up with them and imposed itself on them, they started to panic. They started to speak about Kurdish-Turkish brotherhood, called for national unity, expressed their fear of Israel attacking them, and said Rêber Apo should come and speak in the parliament. But they didn’t just invite him to talk, as if he is in a position where he can go wherever he wants and speak wherever he wants; they wanted to force him to declare the liquidation of the movement.

The Turkish press is a center of the special and psychological warfare, and they are making heavy propaganda, claiming and speculating many things, many of them far away from any reality. They are trying to discuss Rêber Apo in the same way. It has become clear that they had made no preparations for the circumstances they are currently facing. When they realized the danger that they were facing, they started to put forward some things in panic and try to divert the agenda. They want to direct public opinion.

Our global freedom campaign aiming for the physical liberation of Rêber Apo has faced a lot of difficulties. It exposed the system of isolation, torture and genocide of Imrali. This exposure has spread all over the world. Now, everyone is aware of this situation. Politicians, lawyers, artists, academics, intellectual circles, women, youth, all kinds of societies, and peoples. No one who hears about the Imrali system can fit it into any form of law and morality. Everyone who hears about the Imrali system demands the freedom of Rêber Apo. Accordingly there is a very serious pressure created by this. Obviously,the conspirators wanted to alleviate it, to weaken it, to loosen our level of action. They started with random discussions, dropping a word here or there, creating hopes and expectations, trying to change the general agenda in order to push through their own and thus weaken the struggle. That was their calculation.

But their mask fell rather quick. Indeed, the action of comrades Asya and Rojger revealed everything. It destroyed their calculation, the game. It unmasked them. Our people should not listen to the games of the conspirators. They have no meaning, no value. They say a lot of things about us, about the PKK. None of them are true. They are hoping that if they say something, may it be totally wrong and empty, and repeat it dozens of times, people will start to believe it. Therefore, no one should pay attention or listen to them. As Rêber Apo clearly put it, the isolation continues. That indicates the necessity to struggle against it. He said that if appropriate conditions are met, he is able to play a role. That means we should focus on this. How can appropriate conditions be created? Through struggle. So the duty falls on us, on everyone of us, to increase the struggle further. The guerrilla must struggle more intensely, as must the people in the four parts and abroad, particularly the women and the youth. Everywhere we must develop our struggle for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. There must never be any misconception, regression, or relaxation in this regard. But I’m convinced that no one will fall for their games anyway. However, it may be that some people have question marks in their heads, which is why we want to show them the real situation.

On November 16th in Cologne, Germany, our people once again revealed their stance. On February 17th, the global freedom campaign had a peak, and it marked the point from when this campaign started to be a mass mobilization. The Kurdish people, their international friends, those who organize and carry out the campaign abroad had clearly expressed their loyalty to Rêber Apo, how much they want Rêber Apo’s physical freedom, and how much they see themselves in this freedom. What was shown back then in February was now again made clear a couple of days ago in the rally in Cologne. Also, the protests of our people, women, and youth continue in all four parts of Kurdistan. The people are standing up in Rojava and also in northern Kurdistan; the resistance against the attack of implementing trustees continues uninterrupted. The Turkish state never stopped attacking and continues to conduct massacres.

While on the one hand they block and forbid Rêber Apo from meeting his relatives or lawyers, they try to confuse people’s minds day and night through the organs of the special war they call the press. This is a special war, and people must not believe them. After all, the facts and the situation are clear. They left almost no stone unturned in Rojava. And on November 6, they gave a new six month disciplinary punishment to Rêber Apo, and eventually they already prepare the next one to announce in May.

The issue is clear. If they would want to do something, make some steps; they could do it easily. If they had really changed their mind, renounced their fascist, colonialist, genocidal mentality, and politics, and now favored the solution of the Kurdish question, they could act accordingly. Rêber Apo is in front of them. The Kurds have never let a hand that reaches out to them hang in the air. Now they are not at a level where they cannot understand the situation. That is something they seemingly do not understand.

We can define their agenda as fabricated, developed to create grounds for new fascist attacks, to create grounds to realize through fascist usurpation what they could not get through elections. Without being fooled by these, we will develop and deepen our struggle for Rêber Apo. We need to raise an uproar against the ban on meeting with lawyers and family members. We need to expose them in legal circles all over the world. There is no justification for the ways they act. The ongoing discussions have nothing to do with reality. It’s all a game. We as a whole people, in the four parts of Kurdistan and our international friends abroad, develop our global freedom campaign and take up the struggle. We will enrich the actions everywhere, making them more permanent and more result-oriented. We will develop new methods of action. Like this, the truth will come out. Everything will become clear.

The PKK is entering its 47th year and can look back on a long history of resistance. What can we expect in the coming year and what discussions are currently taking place, particularly with regard to Turkey and Turkish society?

The PKK was officially established with the first congress held on November 26 to 27, 1978. So now it is the 46th anniversary and accordingly there are celebrations everywhere. Especially the news of Rêber Apo’s health and his greetings have made the women, the youth, our people and international friends in the four parts of Kurdistan and abroad extremely excited and enthusiastic. All of this is reflected in these celebrations on November 27th.

There are also the actions on the occasion of November 25th, the international day for the elimination of violence against women, which means the struggle for women’s freedom. The PKK is a women’s party and the essence of the PKK’s struggle is the struggle for women’s freedom. Rêber Apo has become the leader of this by developing Jineoloji². For more than 50 years he has been pioneering it. They united struggle of the women shows itself in the streets every day. Kurds in all four parts of Kurdistan and all over the world developed actions on this occasion as well.

I would like to greet all these actions, rallies, seminars, marches, and other gatherings celebrating the anniversary of the founding of our party. I congratulate all comrades, especially Rêber Apo, our heroic guerrilla forces, our women and youth movement, our people, and our international friends on their party feast. I wish them great success in their struggle for freedom and democracy in the 47th PKK year. Again, by commemorating comrade Haki Karer, the first great martyr of our party, I commemorate with respect, love, and gratitude all our heroic party martyrs and martyrs of the freedom struggle, starting with comrade Haki Karer and extending to today’s pioneers, comrades Asya Ali and Rojger Helin. I reiterate once again on the occasion of this party anniversary our promise to keep their memories alive and achieve their goals.

There is a need for the reality of the PKK to be recognized and well understood. This means a correct understanding of the reality of Rêber Apo. There is a certain effort in this direction. In fact, for the last 40, 50 years, the reality of Rêber Apo and the PKK had been one of the most discussed topics in Turkey and in many other parts of the world. There is no regression in this. In its 46th year, the PKK has waged a struggle equal to the previous years. With great courage and sacrifice, it has overcome all difficulties and obstacles, set the agenda, and developed a struggle that imposes the democratization of Turkey and the Middle East on the basis of Kurdish freedom on the entire political environment. The debates show this. If this were not the case, the PKK would not be discussed so much today. Moreover, there would not have been so many falsehoods about the PKK. There would not have been so much work to confuse the public, especially the Turkish public, to distort their consciousness and their knowledge about the PKK. These are the results of the PKK’s 46th year of struggle. It is an indication that this struggle is having more and more influence on Turkish society. A correct understanding of the relation between the PKK and Turkey is needed.

The PKK is a movement with its own uniqueness and distinctive characteristics, and never before has there been a leadership like that of Rêber Apo. He was laying the organizational foundations of the PKK at the Cubuk Dam with Kurdish youth; he was staying in a house with Haki Karer and Kemal Pir, carrying out joint revolutionary work with two revolutionary youth of the Black Sea region, laying the foundations of an organization in Kurdistan. There was no problem in working and discussing with revolutionary youth from the Black Sea region. That is the level of relationship, the level of understanding with the Turkish people that is needed. It started with ADYOD, founded in the spring of 1974, then continued as FKBDC in the early 80s. Today it has come to HBDH. The PKK is in all alliances that want Turkey to be democratized. It is not detached from the reality of Turkey. The reality of the PKK reveals how Kurdish liberation and the democratization of Turkey go hand in hand, how they are not contradictory but two fundamental developments that feed each other and are indispensably linked to each other.

No one can say that the PKK is a narrow power and that it is not concerned with Turkey’s problems. Just as it broke away from narrow Kurdish nationalism, struggled against primitive nationalism, reformist, surrenderist petite bourgeoise nationalism, and transformed itself into a Kurdish freedom movement that envisions the democratization of Turkey and the Middle East, it also struggled against social chauvinism, which is the effective cause of the Turkish problem. What is meant by this social chauvenism? An understanding had been created that the existence of the Turks excludes the existence of the Kurds and that their existence makes freedom impossible. The ideology of the Turkish state is directed against the Kurds. Therefore, they were not able to analyze Turkey correctly. They could not develop the revolutionary line in the struggle correctly. Now, just as the break with Kurdish nationalism and the struggle against it was not a break with Kurdishness, Kurdish existence, and Kurdish freedom, but on the contrary a better integration with them, the break with Turkish social chauvinism and the struggle against it is not a break with Turkish society and Turkish democratization, but on the contrary a stronger integration with it.

In the context of the Imrali trial, Rêber Apo said, “We have waged a struggle for democracy in Turkey; we cannot accept anything else.” He emerged from the revolutionary democratic movement in Turkey. The PKK and the reality of Rêber Apo need to be understood from this aspect by looking at the historical developments. In addition to understanding its connection with Kurdish society, the Kurdish people, Kurdish history, and its unity with Kurdish reality, we must also see and understand its connection with Turkish society, Turkish democratization, Middle Eastern democratization, and, moreover, with free and democratic humanity. From the beginning, the PKK has always considered these strategically. It has always seen Kurdish freedom in the democratization of Turkey, the democratization of the Middle East, and the free and democratic march of humanity. It defined them as strategic allies, saw them, and carried them out in this way.

As we enter our 47th year, the struggle of the 46th year has revealed these realities, and they are affecting the environment in Turkey. So many circles are discussing, trying to understand, and are trying to understand honestly. We salute them, we respect them, but there are many, many more who try to deflect.

What will the 47th year struggle look like? We are entering this year on the basis of the global liberation campaign aiming for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo and on the basis that the campaign has started to yield practical results. We have declared that the physical liberation of Rêber Apo will no longer be a propaganda demand but will become a fact that will be realized step by step in practice. Based on this, we will develop the struggle for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo in a planned and organized manner everywhere. We are prepared for this as a movement. There are no problems or weaknesses in evaluating the past, foreseeing the future, and planning the 47th year struggle through our leadership, all our cadres, and our committees. They are extremely clear, precise, and determined; they have the power to identify and plan tasks, and these are being done.

We are entering the 47th year on the basis of the accumulation of the struggle of the 46th and previous years. We are more prepared, planned, and determined than ever before. We will develop the 47th year struggle with its central aim of achieving the physical freedom of Rêber Apo, much stronger in every field, and we will win big. This is our claim. On this basis, we salute the 47th anniversary of our party and call on all comrades, our people, and international friends to struggle harder and win more in the 47th year struggle.

War is also a reality of the struggle for freedom. What can you tell us about the latest developments in this direction?

Regarding the war, the HPG and YJA Star commands and our central headquarters make the necessary statements and publish balance sheets at the end of each month. Every day there are actions in West Zap and Metina. There are actions from Haftanin to Xakurke. The Medya Defense Zones³ are heroically resisting the invasion attack launched on July 3 with the support of the Iraqi administration. We can state that the invasion attack has failed.

They said that they would set an end to the guerrilla until summer, then they said fall, and now it is the end of November. They said that there would be some good news that they would announce, but every promise of them ran empty. Their General Chief of Staff was going to make a statement or the Minister of Defense was going to explain how they were successful in Zap, but there was nothing to announce. On August 15, they had a meeting with Iraq. Maybe there will be a statement on November 27th as well. They shall explain; the public is waiting for an explanation from them. They said they would close the lock. Have they closed it? Haven’t they locked themselves? Aren’t they stuck in a quagmire? It is very strange. And it is as if they have made everyone believe it. They are propagandizing in the Middle East and all over the world. They make so much propaganda that they are beginning to believe it themselves. They are surprised every time they hear that the guerrillas have carried out another action in the Zap and that soldiers have been shot again. They deceived many circles with lies about how they destroyed the PKK. By saying that, they gained power and support from everyone. But the reality is not like that; those who know this will stop supporting them. They will be ridiculed. They always postpone “the end of the PKK.” It goes on and on like this. The reality is that the war continues. The war is also going on in northern Kurdistan. Our central headquarters command stated in its statements that now the focus lies more on northern Kurdistan again. There will be new developments in this regard in the coming period. The war continues in the cities as well. Actions are taking place every day. There are military operations taking place. We see that the war is gradually spreading from the Medya Defense Zones and northern Kurdistan to the cities. But of course the war in the Medya Defense Zones is important. The KDP gave all kinds of support. Most recently, Iraq gave support. These planned attacks, occupation attacks, are in their 10th year. 10 years ago, in October 2014, they had planned and decided on the basis of the so-called ‘collapse action plan’. 10 years have passed, and they have not been able to achieve even the narrowest of their goals. They face a difficult situation. They mobilized all their means to succeed. They stopped all of Turkey’s finances, all of Turkey’s economy, everything, and spent everything on this. Now everything is collapsed. If they had gotten results here, maybe they would have predicted them. They didn’t get results here either. Therefore, their failure in the war brings their collapse as a system, as a fascist government, as a colonialist, genocidal mentality, and politics. Therefore, they are really experiencing a collapse and a deadlock against the guerrilla. It is a complete bog down. The effects of this will be seen more in the coming period.

What will develop will have a serious impact on the fascist AKP and MHP regimes. In the beginning, the guerrilla struggled to develop tactics; there was inexperience; they had difficulties with changes, but now they have accumulated a great deal of experience in tunnel and mobile team warfare. Now they are in a position to understand the attacks coming at them, they are developing protection measures against them, and they are carrying out offensive actions themselves and are constantly striking. This will be the case for a long time to come. The guerrilla’s striking power is known. Rêber Apo said, “There is no action that a guerrilla unit, no matter how small, that has educated and strengthened itself cannot carry out successfully, no enemy that it cannot defeat.” This was seen latest in the action and attitude of comrades Asya and Rojger. The action targeting the TAI showed the striking power of the guerrilla. It showed everyone that there is no enemy target that it cannot hit, that it cannot enter, that it cannot strike. This shows the peak the guerrilla has reached in its struggles. On this basis, I once again salute the guerrilla fighting heroically all over Kurdistan, especially in Zap and Metina, congratulate their successes, and commemorate its heroic martyrs with respect, love, and gratitude. I wish them all great success in the coming winter.

The attacks on the political and social level, especially in northern Kurdistan, have recently increased in intensity and the state has once again appointed trustees for several municipalities. What can you say about this? What is your message to the people?

Democratic political circles are evaluating the situation, putting forward their positions, making decisions, planning, and developing a struggle. Our patriotic people, particularly the women and the youth, are participating in every field, and a great resistance is being shown. In Merdin (tr. Mardin), Xelfeti (tr. Halfeti), Elih (tr. Batman), and Shevshek (tr. Esenyurt), the Kurdish people show great resistance against the attack in the form of appointing trustees. Now the people of Dersim (tr. Tunceli) are standing up. Dersim does not kneel; Seyit Riza did not kneel. The people of Dersim do not bow their heads; they resist. The Kurdish people resist; Kurdistan resists against these attacks. Of course they will resist; there is no other way.

The situation shows how fake the discussions about the current process are. It is simply unbelievable how mendacious they are. There is hardly anything comparable in the world. It is also unbelievable that there are still people who listen to them after all the massacres and all the invasion attacks, after all the ways they have been abused and exploited. The democratic political arena should also make good use of the current situation. It would not be good to lose what was gained by not taking a stand against such approaches in time. One must be able to protect and defend what one has gained. This aspect is important.

The people’s municipalities and the people’s service centers should be in the hands of the people. The state should not interfere. It is necessary to address why the state tries to intervene here. That’s where the problem lies. A municipality won with 65 percent of the vote, and they won’t let them organize it themselves. Fascist laws made it like this. The centralist state, the state that leaves nothing to the community, does this. Democratic society must reject this. It must fight against this. It must develop its own alternative. It must create a democratic people’s administration, a local administration. Not everything can be done with money. They can collect aid among themselves; they can organize themselves as a municipality. They can do their own work. It is necessary to frustrate this usurpation called trusteeship through various methods. It seems to me that this is actually due to not being able to overcome statism, not being able to organize and develop democratic governance and democratic alternatives sufficiently. These should be emphasized more.

I mean what shall I say in this regard? We are a force of struggle. We say resistance. “Resistance is life!” is the saying comrade Mazlum Dogan has coined. Resistance leads to victory, surrender leads to betrayal. Resistance, more resistance, and more resistance; there is no other way but this. There is no other way, no other method but to grow and develop resistance against fascist aggression and usurpation. We need to organize more, fight more, and resist more.

Now, for the third time, a trustee is being appointed in Merdin. There are elections every five years. That’s fifteen years. For fifteen years the people show their will, and for fifteen years the state goes against it and appoints whoever suits it better instead. So what is the point of that election? Was there any meaning to elections in Turkey then? Are they democratic elections? It is obvious that the election is a game. The people should no longer take this into consideration, and neither should anyone else; we can’t. We were actually doing a test run. Now no one in Turkey will have any credibility anymore, neither in municipal elections nor in other elections. Because the will of the people is not validated. The will that rules it, the will of the fascist chief, the will of the palace coups as it wishes. It changes it whenever it wants. It happens through war, through struggle, through resistance. So what are the people of Kurdistan, the Kurdish people, the youth, and young women going to say? They work so hard, hold elections, win them, and then the state comes and takes it away from them. So, what should they do? They must break the hands that reach out to them. That means war; it means self-defense. The people have to organize their own self-defense. Right now they try to take the will of the people by force of arms, by force of police; they cannot take a step if there is a revolutionary force against them that will counterbalance that force.

The Kurds are not without an alternative. There is the PKK. We call on young people and young women to join the PKK, join PAJK, join the guerrilla, and concentrate on self-defense organization. Fascism, colonialism, and genocide cannot be overthrown by elections. If you don’t fight in the language they understand, you can’t push them back. What is the struggle in the language they understand? Guerrilla struggle. This can be in the city, in the mountains, everywhere. It can be developed everywhere.

We didn’t want it to be like this, but the other side does. As I said, Kurds work with alternatives; the PKK works with alternatives. Therefore, if they say it cannot be done through elections, we will respond with war, struggle, and resistance. We will respond with serhildan⁴. We will develop people’s war, self-defense war, and people’s serhildans. If they use force, we will know how to impose revolutionary force against their fascist force. Kurds have this courage, this consciousness. The PKK is the name of this consciousness, the name of this organization, the name of this action. The PKK expresses this will in Kurdistan. It is the will and self-defense of the Kurdish people in spirit, emotion, thought, consciousness, and action. The PKK will become stronger. The PKK struggle will develop more.

To prevent this, they are developing all kinds of special war attacks. There are gangs everywhere. They are trying to develop all kinds of corruption to prevent the youth, young women, from participating in the freedom struggle in the guerrilla. Drugs, prostitution, theft, gangsterism – they develop everything. We need to take to the mountains more against them. They need to be held to account. The special war cannot be prevented by just discussing it. It needs to be discussed, and awareness must be raised, but essentially, it is necessary to organize and take action against it. When there is no revolutionary organizational action against them, they appear to be strong. As soon as they are confronted, as soon as they are held to account, they cower in their places. There is a great new future for the Kurdish youth. There is a free life, a new life. This is the consciousness of this youth. It has been fighting for almost fifty years, waging a struggle for freedom under the leadership of Rêber Apo.

The developments show the necessity to correctly, seriously and disciplined approach the struggle. The struggle will continue in all respects. Fascist mentality, system, colonialist, genocidal power – what else can be expected from AKP and MHP? Of course they will attack, but we will develop a resistance and struggle that will destroy those attacks with much greater strength on every front, everywhere. The trend is in favor of the development of the revolutionary struggle, the struggle for freedom, the struggle for democracy. Fascism is shrinking, being squeezed, being forced. It is in a deadlock, it is experiencing insolvency. If we organize ourselves more and mobilize ourselves for more effective struggle, we will win. I invite everyone to such an attitude once again.

Finally, we would like to take a look at the Third World War. Can you give us an outlook on this?

Since 1990, the Third World War has been developing and spreading through various stages. The whole world is involved in this. At this point, beyond its ideological and political dimension, the military dimension is also emerging, intensifying, and spreading. The danger is increasing in that dimension as well. Many people were looking at the election in the US. Trump became president with the propaganda that he would stop the ongoing wars. But just before he became president elect, there was a discussion of nuclear war over Ukraine. The US, Britain, now France, and many other powers are encouraging the Ukrainian government to use more weapons, to use new weapons. Most recently, France has taken steps in this regard. They even announced that they would send troops. It is an astonishing situation. One understands the efforts of the US, but why this effort of Europe, especially Germany and France? The US and the UK started this war. They pushed Europe and Russia back with this war situation. The US competence has improved. But is Europe so weak-willed? Is it so obedient to the US? Whereas in the past they used to say that NATO is brain dead, that it cannot protect Europe, that an European army is necessary, and that Europe must have a new defense system, now these things are happening as if they were never said, as if they were never recorded.

There is a possibility that Trump would gradually cool down the war in Ukraine. When he gets into office this is most likely to be the development. We thought that if the supranational monopoly capital wanted it that way, it would elect Trump president. Trump was indeed elected. But now, even before he takes office, the Biden administration is escalating the war in Ukraine. Maybe the last things are being played out. There will be a retreat, maybe. But it is a dangerous game. They are playing a dangerous game of nuclear weapons. The war may become more widespread and deepen in the Middle East. We don’t think Trump will follow a very different policy on this issue. After the attacks on Lebanon and the war with Hezbollah, Israel is gradually increasing its attacks on Syria. They may hit Iranian targets in Syria more. The issue of what the Syrian administration will be and how the Syrian system will be shaped may come to the fore more. This may be the more influential agenda of the coming days, weeks, and months. There is an open situation for this.

Iran seems to be making efforts to prevent this. Iran’s stance has always been to withdraw from the war. Despite these attacks, there does not seem to be a different attitude. But it is not clear how effective and preventive it will be. With the Israeli attacks, the US and NATO have gained military superiority in the Middle East. They will probably escalate them further. In other words, they will target Iran’s extraterritorial forces more. They are forcing Iran to compromise with its own hand. Or alternative democratization may develop.

The same is true for Turkey. Turkey panicked a bit when the first clashes happened. Israel’s attack on Hezbollah and the war in Lebanon provoked it first. Supposedly Israel and Iran would fight. Both of them would be dependent on Turkey in the Middle East, and Turkey would be an effective power outside the war, like a mediator. Turkey realized that the Israeli attacks were not like that, that they were aimed at striking a blow against the status quo. When they realized that the center of the war would gradually shift to Turkey and that the tail of the war would break in Cyprus, they panicked. Now they are probably making different, deep calculations. They are trying to distract with some debates and psychological warfare. Bahceli made an exit in this regard. We called on him to be serious, but he was not consistent. He could not show a political stance equal to his serious stance in his statements. We don’t know how the next process will be. But the outlook for Turkey is not good. As long as the AKP and MHP fascism continue its current rule, as long as this power in Turkey remains in this form, as long as the Kurdish-hostile, fascist, anti-democratic, dictatorial rule continues, Turkey will face great dangers. It will enter a catastrophe. So much so that a similar imposition will come to Turkey. Either it will completely surrender to the new Middle Eastern capitalist modernity that Israel wants to develop together with the Arabs, or if the democratic alternative does not develop, if Kurdish freedom and democratic Turkey do not develop, Turkey will disintegrate. There is no other way for Turkey within the system. Its options are either to disintegrate or to surrender to the Israeli order.

Apart from this, the only possible salvation for Turkey is democratization on the basis of Kurdish freedom. An alternative democratic Turkey must emerge, unite its strength and reach the power to protect itself from all these attacks. Especially those who love Turkey, intellectuals, politicians, democratic forces, true patriots of Turkey must see this situation. They must oppose AKP and MHP fascism on this basis. They must unite with Kurdish freedom on this basis. They should try to save Turkey from this disaster, knowing that this can only be realized on the basis of the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. Our efforts have always been on this basis, but not only with us, there must be a general rising up in Turkey to put an end to this trend. This is our expectation and effort. We hope we will see this soon.

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