Karayilan to the West: Stop this unjust policy against Kurdish people

 This came in the second part of the interview conducted by (Medya news) network, with the commander-in-chief of the Kurdistan People's Defense Forces (HPG), Karayilan shares his views on issues ranging from the political position of Western countries towards the Kurdish Cause and the criminalization of the PKK to the relations of the PKK  Kurdistan with the world revolutionary circles.

 A UK all-party parliamentary report published in August noted: “So far, no European or international court has found that the PKK meets the conditions for its designation as a terrorist organization, or that the designation is legally enforceable…” Do you expect any change  In EU and US policies regarding the criminalization of the PKK, what will be the consequences if the PKK is no longer considered a "terrorist organization"?

 Thank you very much for asking this question.  Either in Europe or in the rest of the world, no court has ever ruled that the PKK has committed an act of terrorism.  There was no such action by the PKK because the PKK is not a terrorist organization.  On the contrary, the Turkish state is perpetrating terrorism in Kurdistan today.  The PKK is exercising a legitimate defense against the invading fascist Turkish state.  Our people protect themselves in order to preserve their existence, language and culture, and the PKK is the legitimate defender of our people.

 Today, if Britain or France was occupied by a foreign power and banned the language and culture of the people.  If all the wealth of the people were taken from their hands.  If their historical values ​​were deprived, what would the people of France and Britain do?  Naturally they will resist and defend themselves.  The Kurdish people do the same.  The HPG is a legitimate force in defense of the Kurdish people.  Its leader Abdullah Ocalan are the political representatives of the Kurdish people.  This is the truth, nothing else does not reflect the truth.  But the United States and the European Union have listed the PKK as terrorist for their political and economic interests.

 What would happen if these countries removed the PKK from the terrorist list?  Most likely, the war will end and a new operation will begin.  Such an operation will have an impact on the occupying countries of Kurdistan (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria).  Such an operation is supposed to stop the war.  If the United States of America and the European Union are honest, if they do not want the Kurds to be massacred by these occupying countries of Kurdistan (Turkey, Iran, etc.) and if they want the Kurds to live freely, then this injustice that has occurred must be stopped immediately;  However, these countries support the war with this decision they have made regarding us.  They actively support persecution in Kurdistan.

Officially, these countries support Turkey.  So, they have also become partners in Turkey's terrorism.  They should stop doing that.  And here we appeal to them: Since the Lausanne Agreement (1923), you have been wronging the Kurdish people.  Stop this unjust and wrong policy.  The struggle of the Kurdish people is a legitimate struggle.  Do not dubb it as terrorism. Do not be accomplices in these massacres committed in Kurdistan.  This is our call to the European Union and the United States of America.  These countries encourage the tyrants against the Kurds.  They support them directly or indirectly.  As such, they turn a blind eye to the tragedies of the people of Kurdistan.  That is why we call on these countries: Change your wrong and unjust decisions.  For a hundred years, our people have been resisting these unjust and wrong decisions.  Understand this and abandon this unjust policy.  This is my plea to you.

 The PKK is one of the most discussed political movements in the modern era.  It has been the source of countless academic research articles related to the concept of "terrorism", "armed freedom struggles", "the guerrilla war", etc.  How do you explain the political line and the PKK issue to the international public who sees this interview but who might not be familiar with your movement?

 Above all, this fact must be known.  Our people are the oldest peoples of the Middle East and Mesopotamia.  But during the redesign of the Middle East, it existence was denied in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, and Kurdistan was divided among four countries.  Our people, who resisted this for a hundred years, did not surrender, but the colonial countries also committed very brutal massacres against our people.  Since then, great tragedies have occurred in Kurdistan.

In the 1970s, when these policies were implemented in Northern Kurdistan, the young Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, the son of a poor family, was at a university in a Turkish city where he encountered this Kurdish reality first-hand.  Face it in the person of the Kurdish people, humanity was being trampled underfoot.  Those who saw and comprehended this fact could not remain silent.  If they had remained silent, they would have turned their backs on human values.  Leader Abdullah Ocalan did not turn his back on the suffering of his people.  At that time, a group of conscientious Kurdish youth formed a group in 1973 to fight from that day represented the first steps of the PKK.  But the Turkish state was a member of NATO, which is why all NATO countries supported Turkey against the Kurdish conflict.  NATO also looked at the Kurdish cause through the eyes of Turkey.  That is why they called the PKK a "terrorist organization".

 Sweden's prime minister, Olof Palme, was a Democrat who supported all libertarian organizations.  He was assassinated in 1986. They announced that the PKK carried out this assassination.  Why?  Because someone wanted to portray the Kurdish struggle for freedom as "terrorism".  But over time, it became clear that the PKK did not carry out the assassination.  People should know these facts.

 The Turkish state did not fight us alone.  You have always fought us with the support and might of NATO.    We want rights and legal justice.  We did not confiscate anyone's property.  We demand the human rights of our people.  Despite this, NATO forces have always supported Turkey.  Then, on October 9, 1998, a joint international conspiracy was carried out against the leader Abdullah Ocalan under the leadership of the United States of America, and as a result they arrested the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and handed him over to Turkey.  What were their goals?  Their goals, of course, were the complete elimination of the Kurdistan National Liberation Movement, however, the leader Abdullah Ocalan acted with unparalleled wisdom and political ingenuity from his imprisonment on the island of Imrali, and despite all the difficulties, he managed to thwart the international conspiracy that took place under the leadership of the United States of America.

Leader Abdullah Ocalan emerged with a new model.  He presented his eco-democratic model, with women's rights at its core.  Thus, it not only opened the way for the PKK to renew and expand itself, but also provided a solution to the peoples of the Middle East.  It also led to the emergence of a social-democratic system for the world, which had lost its direction in capitalist modernity.  He came up with a new theory of the progress of "democratic modernity".  It gave us a new perspective.

 Thus, the Kurdish people's struggle became more steadfast and Abdullah Ocalan showed that he has an important project for the peoples of the Middle East.  He presented "democratic modernity" as an alternative model for the people of the world.  Through this project, the Kurdish people responded to the international conspiracy.  This project enabled the PKK to grow.  The struggle for freedom of the Kurdish people has now reached Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Turks, Persians and many other peoples.

 For this reason, the PKK is also fighting for freedom and democracy. The PKK's policy in the Middle East has shaken up the old separatist politics, opening a new opportunity in the Middle East.  In short, this is how I describe the PKK.  The story of the PKK is the story of a people's struggle against capitalist modernity.

Hundreds of European human rights defenders gathered for a peace initiative to block an inter-Kurdish war earlier this year. But faced great pressure from their own governments, especially in Germany.    It seems that it is not only the Kurds who are being criminalized, but also the European friends of the Kurds who support peace and democracy.  How do you evaluate the broader criminalization campaign in the Western world, which revolves around the Kurdish Cause?

 For the past 150 years, the German state has traditionally provided continuous support, first to the Ottoman Empire, and the Turkish Republic later, against the Kurdish people.  It played a role in genocidal policies including the Armenian genocide and, more generally, Kurds and Greeks in Anatolia.  The NATO is playing a negative role.  The Kurdish people are only asking for their natural rights, and nothing else.  They claim the right to exist.

 Unfortunately, Germany and many other European countries and NATO members are trying to hide this fact for their 'dirty' economic and political interests, not only turning a blind eye to the persecution of the Kurdish people, but also actively supporting the Turkish state.  Therefore, they are complicit in the massacres committed in Kurdistan.  this is the truth.

Many of our friends, the internationalists in Germany and other countries in Europe, those who are trying to support us, are also under pressure.  They are also facing attacks.  This is an imperialist policy based on interests.  It is a policy that ignores the oppressed people and classes, and works only on the interests of domination.  It is unethical.  They say they are democrats!  They say they defend human rights!  But they are still part of the violence in Kurdistan.

 But Germany is behaving in an unjust manner and without any regard for the law.  The Turkish state recently violated international laws.  (...) The torture that our leader Abdullah Ocalan was subjected to in Imrali today has no international legal basis.  It is unethical.  A policy of absolute solitude is imposed to the point that our leader cannot even think; This is the goal of aggravated solitary confinement.

 These countries played a role in the kidnapping of our leader and his extradition to Turkey.  They have been instrumental in building the isolation system in Imrali.  They are partners, So it is clear that our people expected this injustice to end.  The cruelty committed in Imrali is being inflicted on the whole of Kurdistan.  Our people are waging a struggle against these injustices with great political will.  We hope that the cause of Kurdish freedom will win with the support of the internationalists and all the people in favor of democratic principles and human rights.  (…) Because it is a just cause.  (...)

 At present, they are constantly trying to weaken and liquidate the PKK.  The PKK cannot be liquidated.  Why ?  Because the PKK is the people, so how will they be able to eliminate the people?  What does the PKK want today?  It wants what any villager, worker, or even capitalist wants in Kurdistan.  The PKK represents the demands of the Kurdish people.  People want to live in these lands freely with their rich heritage and language. If these countries say that they are civilized, they must change their duplicitous and evasive policies.

 The revolutionary circles in the world have been carefully watching for years the struggle of the PKK for freedom for the Kurdish people in general, and specifically the recent developments in Rojava.  Many people and groups joined the Kurdish struggle, involved in international solidarity.  What would be your message to the people who are carrying out this struggle, in the context of the struggle against the existing global economic and social order?

 At first I salute the comrades who came to Kurdistan with strong internationalist sentiments, who fought against the policies of fascism and genocide, who joined the struggle for freedom for our people and gave support.  I greet them with love and respect.  It is something very humanly meaningful.  As you know, we also have friends who came to join our ranks and were martyred.  I salute all the Gentile martyrs in the person of our friends Ronahi, Andrea Wolf, Shear, and Jacob Reimer, and I bow respectfully before their memory.

 Coming from Germany or elsewhere in the world in solidarity with the Kurdish people and martyrdom is a very humane act;  A work that honors humanity.  It is a very high rank.  We promise to rise in the struggle and achieve their goals and hopes, and we represent these hopes.  There are individuals and groups that support our struggle.  This is something sacred to us.

 On the other hand, the participation of the left in general, or groups that consider themselves socialist or democratic movements, is insufficient.  They are not in touch with the struggle in Kurdistan as much as we wish they would.  They are rather far away.  The solidarity expected from such movements has not yet grown.  The struggle in Kurdistan today is not only the struggle for freedom for the Kurds, but it is the struggle of all peoples.

 A new track is being introduced today in Kurdistan.  It is a struggle of oppressed classes and peoples, and an implementation of the right methods by 21st century guerrillas, to be used in the struggle for freedom against the dominant powers in Kurdistan, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.  So we have been expecting socialist organizations to provide more support around the world, and we don't think we have received enough support yet.

 For example, the ideas and model developed by our leader Abdullah Ocalan have shaken the ideological foundations of the Middle East, particularly through his vision of women's liberation and his conception of a democratic nation.  The old walls were demolished and provided the basis for a revolutionary situation.  The world is not helpless in the face of capitalist modernity.  I have formulated the solution.  His conception of democratic modernity and his vision of a new alternative led to the start of a new political wave.  This is the struggle for democratic socialism, the struggle of the peoples, the struggle for freedom.  It is in fact the struggle for a new life.  These are very inspiring and big issues.  Therefore, it is expected that the social democratic movements will provide more support to the Kurdish people for these ideas.

 The occupation forces launched attacks on these initiatives.  Today, the Turkish occupation is supported by a fascist regime led by the alliance of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Ergenekon gangs.  They are trying to defeat the struggle for freedom of the people.  They plan and dream of our destruction to continue their rule.  They made plans to eliminate us, occupy Iraqi Kurdistan, and go to elections this year.  They planned to hold elections in November and continue their fascist rule.  But, as the proud guerrilla war and the people, as activists in democratic politics, and like all the resistance prisoners, led by the leader Abdul Ocalan, we stand on the front line of the resistance.  We have broken the wave of fascism.

 They could not have held elections this year.  Why?  Because they couldn't eliminate us.  The resistance today, in a sincere spirit and by the right means, is for the sake of humanity.  It is for the people of the entire region.  It breaks the fascist wave of the dominant powers in the Middle East and paves the way for the peoples' struggle for freedom and democracy.  We are contributing to humanity through this new revolutionary wave.  We have special expectations of socialist and democratic movements.  One of the organizations that defend human rights.  Unfortunately, they seem to listen more to the establishment's voice.

 The international media is controlled by the dominant powers, and they usually take credit for the government-controlled media in Turkey.  Thus, they close their eyes to the realities of the great struggle and resistance in Kurdistan, which is being carried out by the Kurdish people.  The great resistance that plays an important role for humanity goes unnoticed.  Solidarity is not growing as expected.

 We still say that the "Kurdish reality" is greater.  Reality, which was formed through the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan, is greater.  It shows a way away from the barbarism of capitalist modernity.  The road to freedom and democracy.  This is what the fight is for.  We are fighting for this in the mountains of Kurdistan today.  For example, the Turkish state recently used chemical weapons against us.  Perhaps the dominant powers realize this, and some of them may have provided support to the Turkish state.  They have her back covered.

 This is a fascist state that is trying to continue oppressing both Kurdistan and the Turkish people.  Perhaps the dominant powers overlook this;  But the social democratic and human rights movements should oppose this and build a huge case on this issue.  The Turkish state is committing a crime against humanity.  She is using prohibited weapons.  We were expecting a bigger public reaction, but that didn't happen.

 However, we still have hope and faith.  We are a movement that is self-reliant above all else.  We depend on the strength of the people.  We don't expect anyone to cover our backs.  We are backed by our forces and the friendship of peoples and nations.

 We believe that our struggle for freedom, democracy, and equality will succeed in leading women and youth, and will eventually win the global support it deserves.  We will surely defeat the hegemonic fascism with the support of revolutionary international solidarity.  We will raise the flag of freedom and democracy in Kurdistan.  This is a new call to the peoples of the Middle East and the whole world.  It is a new path.

 With such hopes, wish you good luck.

A

ANHA