In the fourth part of this interview with Medya Haber TV, Besê Hozat, Co-President of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council, spoke about the resistance the guerrillas put up against the Turkish state, as well as the attacks suffered by Kurds in Europe and Iran.

The first part of this interview can be read here, the second here, and the third here.

The Turkish state continues to add new claims to its statements, such as, “We have finished the PKK.” Regarding the Medya Defense Zones, it claims that it has “closed the lock.” But there is a resistance that the whole world witnesses. And the enthusiasm of this resistance was clearly expressed by the guerrillas and the people at the celebrations of the 47th anniversary of the founding of the PKK. How do you evaluate the resistance and the newly reached level of struggle?

The guerrillas developed great resistance over the last four to five years. It has disrupted the Turkish state’s policies of annihilation, occupation, and annexation, and it put the Turkish state in a great predicament and locked it in the places it entered. When the Turkish state saw that it could not achieve more results, it developed the discourse that the lock was closed and gave way to the attacks on Rojava. Now it is waging a big war in North and East Syria. It didn’t get the result it hoped for. Still, it constantly develops discourses about the ‘closed lock.’ If the Turkish state does not face up to these genocide policies it has been developing for a hundred years, if it does not open these locks it has maneuvered itself in, and if it does not come to an honorable peace and democratic solution with the Kurds, the Turkish state will experience a great collapse, and Turkey will disintegrate. The current policies are leading the Turkish state towards this. It is taking Turkey towards a great disaster. It will not and cannot get any results from these policies. Just as it has failed to achieve any results in its war against the guerrilla for years, it will also fail to achieve any results in its war against Rojava, against North and East Syria, and against Syria as a whole. This will bring the destruction of the Turkish state. If it insists on the genocidal policies, it will suffer the consequences. The Turkish state cannot cope with the PKK. As long as the Turkish state insists on these policies, the result will be the destruction and disintegration of the Turkish state, its division. At the moment, it is already creating disintegration and division in Turkey.

While international and regional powers continue to put pressure on Iran, Iran is increasing its internal pressure. How do you evaluate the recent death sentence imposed on Kurdish activist Warisha Muradi in this context?

As Iran is squeezed and pressured, it increases internal violence and pressure and conducts more executions. This puts Iran in more dead ends and leads it to further collapse. These policies do not help Iran; they have never done so. They always have and will cause much more damage. Now, it has sentenced dozens of Kurdish women revolutionaries, political activists, and journalists to death. Pexshan Ezizi, Werishe Muradi, our friend Regesh, and dozens of others. They are trying to discipline society, particularly women; they are trying to break their will, to restrain them, to suppress and neutralize social opposition, social reaction, and the people’s demands for democracy, freedom, and equality through death sentences. It cannot reach anything like this. These policies will only increase the anger in society, in women. These policies just further develop and strengthen the demands for democracy, freedom, and equality. It will lead to this becoming more widespread. We saw this very clearly in the ‘Jin Jiyan Azadi’ uprisings.

Iran needs to give up these policies. It already is in the crosshairs of international powers. It is targeted by the US, Britain, and Israel. There is a serious pressure and attack targeting Iran. Iran’s power in the Middle East has been broken to a very significant extent. It is currently under great political and economic pressure and siege. Policies that increase and strengthen the reaction of the society and the reaction of women will only accelerate the collapse of Iran. The right policy is to respond to the demands of society and women. It is based on democratic politics. It is based on democratic understanding. It is to reform. It is to take practical steps to meet these demands. And to put an end to these executions. This is the right thing. This is what will keep Iran afloat and alive. Otherwise, it is facing great danger.

Focusing on Pexshan Ezizi and Werishe Muradi, the KJAR has developed a strong campaign against the execution policy, and there is significant participation in it. This campaign needs to be continued and strengthened. All women, peoples, and all oppressed groups and all freedom-seeking and democratic groups should support and strengthen it. The policies behind the executions must be exposed. Strong protests must be developed against it; a struggle must be waged. A strong regional, national, and international struggle led by women must be waged in order to put an end to these policies.

In the midst of the Turkish state’s total war against the Kurdish people, the attacks against the Kurds by the UK, the main responsible for the statelessness and fragmentation of the Kurds, continue. Recently there was an attack on the Kurdish Community Centre in London, and many people were forcefully detained. Is this a local phenomenon, or is there a connection with the developments in the region?

Of course there is a very direct connection with the developments in the region and also with the developments in Turkey. Britain is responsible for the Kurdish genocidal policies. It is the power that implemented the Treaty of Lausanne. It is the deceiving hegemonic power. The Treaty of Lausanne was made under the leadership of England and France, and England was at the head of it. Britain’s role in the division of Kurdistan into four parts is decisive. Britain’s role in the genocidal policies applied against the Kurds over the last hundred years is decisive. Britain’s role in the development of the international conspiracy was also decisive. And instead of apologizing to the Kurds, instead of apologizing for being a partner in these genocide policies, instead of giving up its support for the continuation of these genocide policies, Britain is now pursuing a policy that shows that it still is a partner in it and supports these genocide policies today. It supports and approves the genocidal policies of the Turkish state. I strongly condemn this and underline that it is very much necessary to expose them. Resistance against this is necessary. These raids and attacks against Kurdish institutions and cultural associations in London are part of this. It expresses Britain’s support of the genocidal policies, annexation, and occupation policies carried out by the current Turkish state.

Britain has made serious agreements with the Turkish state after leaving the European Union. It made military agreements, as well as commercial agreements. It sold a lot of weapons to the Turkish state. And it has increased this even more throughout the last years. It was the same even before, when it still was part of the European Union. Europe has a hypocritical policy; all European countries have a hypocritical policy against Turkey. They instrumentalize the Kurdish question for their own interests. They use the Kurdish question as a trump card against Turkey in order to get more concessions from it, to use it in their regional policies. They are getting concessions from Turkey both against the Kurds and by involving the Turkish state in genocidal policies. Such dirty politics have been going on for years, decades, and England is at the forefront of this.

Our people, particularly in the UK, but also in all of Europe, must stand up for their institutions and protect them. They must put up a strong resistance against these attacks by European states and must struggle. They must not accept these attacks. Our people must constantly express and expose the reality of these states, the reality of the UK, their hypocritical policies, their dirty politics of interests, and they must wage a strong all-round, multi-faceted struggle. There are reactions in London too. There has been a hunger strike for three, four days, there are protests, there is a legal struggle going on. This should not be limited to the UK, but should also be developed across Europe. There have been attacks on the free media not long ago. These attacks are likely to develop and will develop further. A wait-and-see policy should not be followed against all these attacks. One should not adopt such an attitude. A strong struggle must be waged. In Europe, the organized struggle of our people is having a very serious impact. Our people are organized, conscious, constantly dynamic and in a constant struggle. The peoples of Europe must also be drawn into this struggle. This struggle must be carried out together with them. Our people have many international friends, they should involve them even more. Together with its international friends, together with the peoples and society of Europe, it must wage this struggle very strongly against the dirty policies of these states, against their hypocritical interest policies. Our people must be able to expose and condemn these dirty relations of interest with the Turkish state through their struggle.