Leader Abdullah Ocalan sends message to 20th Kurdish Conference

Leader Abdullah Ocalan sent a message to the 20th Kurdish Conference, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, the Belgian capital. The message addressed by the leader to the conference reads as follows:

“I extend my greetings to the participants and organizers of your 20th Conference, entitled ‘The European Union, Turkey, the Middle East and the Kurds.’

Undoubtedly, you have carried out—and continue to carry out—very valuable work, for which I offer my thanks and respect.

On 15 February 1999, I was brought to Imralı as a result of an international conspiracy. I am here today because of the influence of NATO’s Gladio network. I will not refrain from criticizing this at this point. They had said of me that ‘there is not a single patch of land in Europe where he could set foot.’ This conspiracy and these schemes were carried out in secrecy, hidden from the peoples of Europe. They were orchestrated according to the Gladio mentality. Undoubtedly, you are struggling against this situation. You are working to challenge it.

The European Union, which adopted this approach at the time, must today act in accordance with its own laws. It is of great importance that it take a constructive approach both to the democratization of Turkey and to the resolution of the Kurdish question. The fundamental way to resist the rising far right and the trend toward authoritarianism in Europe is to firmly uphold democratic values.

In particular, the support expressed through civil society and political initiatives such as your conference during the Peace and Democratic Society Process is support for peace and democracy. At the same time, your work and this conference need to become more enduring. New steps are needed. There is a need for internationalist cooperation. Such cooperation is important because it can bring together the democratic experiences and accumulated achievements of our regions and peoples, paving the way for a new paradigm of democracy and socialism.

The work we are carrying out in Turkey is valuable and important. We have launched a serious process aimed at finding political, fair and legal solutions to social problems in place of wars, massacres and the marginalization of others.

You can also discuss these issues at your conference. At present, there are many unanswered questions. Yet, despite these uncertainties, we are proposing a comprehensive model for a solution. This initiative represents a historic step for both Europe and the Middle East.

The success of our proposed Peace and Democratic Society project will make peace, stability and democratization in the Middle East possible. There is much that you, too, can do to help make this happen. I believe that valuable friends and comrades such as yourselves will help spread this initiative more widely.

Once again, I congratulate all those involved in the conference and send you my greetings and respects.

Abdullah Ocalan

Imralı

9 October"