Cemil Bayik, co-chair of the KCK Executive Council spoke about the latest developments in Kurdistan and the Middle East, as well as about the condition of Abdullah Öcalan and the worldwide campaign for his freedom.

The isolation and torture of the leader of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan, continues. Why and how does the Turkish state pursue this policy of isolation? Also, looking at the global campaign; how do you evaluate the development of it?

Before answering your question, I would like to draw attention to the following. Both in Turkey and in South Kurdistan [Northern Iraq], a call was made by artists, writers, organizations that stand against fascism in the struggle for democracy and freedom. They said: ‘we must give peace a voice’. It is very important to make such a call in this period. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them on making this call and convey my respect to them. They should strengthen their work even more.

Regarding your question, the absolute isolation and torture against Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] continues. Even though there are actions against this, the genocidal, occupying Turkish state insists on its policy. Our struggle against this policy is too weak and so the Turkish state takes courage from this. But there are also some other states which support the Turkish state for their own interests. The Turkish state and the AKP-MHP government also benefit from this and insist on their policy.

Our general struggle has brought the AKP-MHP to the point of destruction. To maintain power, they carry out the politics of denial. According to them, there are no Kurds and there is no Kurdish question. They label anyone who asserts that there is a Kurdish question as a ‘criminal’. In other words, there is no change in the mentality of the Turkish state. It is a mentality which insists that the Kurdish question be resolved through violence and war. This is essentially the mentality of the MHP.

The MHP is not a party, it is a counter-guerrilla organization. That is why the MHP intends to liquidate the PKK, thus, to complete the Kurdish genocide. Rêber Apo, the Kurdish people and their international friends stand against these politics. They resist and struggle. We must underline, that this statist policy is being carried out not only against the Kurds, but also against all other democratic and socialist forces. The government wants to establish a regime of its own in Turkey. In that regime there will be no Kurds, no Alevis, no democrats or socialists. They want everyone to surrender to them. They are conducting politics entirely on this basis.

The aim of the global [‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’] campaign that is running right now, is to ensure the physical freedom of Rêber Apo and to solve the Kurdish question through democratic means. Despite all the shortcomings, this campaign has already achieved strong results. It has become a hot topic and the international embrace of Rêber Apo and his paradigm is growing day by day. The capitalist system asserts great pressure on humanity and is the source of a lot of destruction within society. This can be seen by everybody. Therefore, there is also a search for an alternative to this system. The campaign we developed is like a medicine for the peoples. The people have realized that they can solve their problems when they take the system of ‘democratic modernity’ developed by Rêber Apo as a basis against the capitalist system. That is why they embrace Rêber Apo and his paradigm. Rêber Apo once stated: 'Wherever my prison writings are, I am there.' He may be physically on the prison island of Imrali, but Rêber Apo is an internationally recognized leader who is being embraced more and more every day.

Rêber Apo is a free person despite being imprisoned and tortured in Imrali. He achieved this with his ideas, philosophy and through his struggle. He presented his paradigm to humanity and humanity has thereby gained a great weapon in the struggle for an alternative. In this sense, we can say that the first stage of the global campaign has succeeded. The important thing is to develop for the next stage. Therefore, changes must be made to the actions taken. If new types of actions are not taken, the campaign will not yield strong results. We must now develop the move together with society, with millions of people. This must be done both in Northern Kurdistan [South-East Turkey], in other parts of Kurdistan and internationally. If the campaign is carried out on this basis, it will achieve its goal. The current actions are insufficient. Stronger, different actions should be taken, millions should march. Those actions must have an impact on both a global level, as well as directly on the genocidal Turkish state. Then the AKP-MHP will not be able to continue much longer. Our people and our international friends should understand this reality well.

The actions of the guerrillas are not covered much in the Turkish press, but the recent actions are on the agenda. These actions have shaken the Turkish state and the AKP-MHP regime. How have the recent actions affected society and politics in Turkey and Kurdistan?

Rêber Apo, the guerrilla forces and the Kurdish people have a great impact on politics. The Turkish state and the government were always making propaganda that the PKK had been destroyed. But when the guerrilla carried out strong actions, these actions shook the Turkish state and the AKP-MHP government. The propaganda they had been making for years came to naught both in Turkey and in the international arena. Everyone saw that their propaganda consists of lies. The results of the latest actions have once again revealed the true face of the Turkish state and the government. That is why the Turkish state is in a panic. They are working on how to neutralize the effects of these actions. They are detaining and arresting as many people as possible, bombing the areas of the guerrilla and are carrying out heavy attacks, especially against Rojava [West Kurdistan-Northern Syria]. In this way, they are trying to show that they are strong, that they are still standing. They are trying to cover their weakness in this way.

The peoples of Turkey should also ask some questions to the AKP-MHP government. They should ask: ‘Where are you sending these soldiers, for whom are you sending them?’ They should investigate the reason behind this. If Turkish soldiers are dying, Erdoğan is the cause. Everyone should ask Erdoğan and the MHP to account for this. ‘Why are you sending our children to South Kurdistan, what are they doing there? This has nothing to do with defending the border. It has nothing to do with defending Turkey, Turkish society. You want to achieve some of your own political goals, that’s why you are sending our children to war and getting them killed’.

Erdoğan-Bahçeli are fully responsible for the killed soldiers. People need to see this. If everything has become more expensive in Turkey, they should investigate the reason for this. They should investigate why the Turkish currency is losing value day by day, the economy is being turned upside down, the lives of the people are being jeopardized. The reason is the war waged by the AKP-MHP.

Right now, in the mainstream media in Turkey, especially on social media, there is a lot of discussion on secondary agendas, such as the conditions of the soldiers, where they are, whether the equipment they have is appropriate or not. Do you think these are the discussions that should be on the agenda?

These are not the main issues that should be discussed. The aim of these discussions is to shadow the defeat. Nevertheless, the Turkish army had suffered a huge blow. They are unable to continue the war. The actions that have been taken have clearly revealed this. They are waging psychological-special warfare to cover this up. They are distorting what happened via the press. This is the reason for all the discussions. They don’t want people to investigate, to find out the reason, to say ‘enough is enough’. They want to put other things on the agenda. I would like to take this opportunity to call on the so-called village guards not to serve the politics of genocide, but to stand against it. Again, also, the Peshmerga of the KDP should not be an instrument for genocidal politics. They should stay away from the bases of the Turkish state and not support them. This is what is asked of them.

That is why the guerrillas have been successful in its struggle. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the guerrilla and congratulate them. It seems that the guerrilla will continue to heighten this struggle. Both the Turkish state and the AKP-MHP government should know that they cannot achieve results in this way. Kurds will continue their struggle for democracy and freedom. The Turkish government needs to understand this. They must give up the politics of genocide, denial, annihilation, isolation, torture and occupation. If they do not, this will create great dangers for Turkey. Erdoğan may have won the elections, but Turkey is heading towards destruction. Turkey has no friends left; they are alone. The peoples of Turkey need to see this and say, ‘where are you taking us? Our future is dark, we are suffering great blows, we see no respect anywhere’. They should ask the AKP-MHP government to account for this.