Besê Hozat, co-president of the KCK Executive Council, spoke about the first anniversary of the global campaign called 'Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question', as well as the 26th anniversary of the beginning of the International Conspiracy that forced the Kurdish people's leader to leave Syria. 

The October 9th Conspiracy, which will soon have its 26th anniversary, is not a closed historical event. The attack against the Kurdish people’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and the Kurdish people that it represents continues to this day. What can you tell us about the cause of the conspiracy and how it continues?

As we are about to enter the 27th year of the conspiracy, I strongly condemn and curse the forces responsible for it. At the same time, I commemorate all the martyrs who gave their lives for freedom with respect. In the 26-year ongoing struggle against the conspiracy, a high price was paid by many of our valuable comrades, our people, and our international friends. We had many martyrs, and tens of thousands of people have been imprisoned. There has been great suffering. But, as a result, the conspiracy failed to achieve its goal. This is very important.

We have evaluated the purpose of the conspiracy on many occasions and Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] himself made the most extensive evaluation in his prison writings. What always needs to be pointed out is that the Third World War started with the conspiracy. The international powers wanted to intervene in the Middle East on a large scale under the leadership of America. They saw Rêber Apo and the PKK as a major obstacle to this intervention. Why? Because Rêber Apo had a great impact on the Kurdish people. He caused great changes and transformations in the Kurdish people, and he started a freedom struggle centered in Kurdistan. The hegemonic powers saw a freedom movement like the PKK as a threat to them and wanted to neutralize it. That is why they, under the leadership of America, Britain, and Israel, developed a conspiracy against Rêber Apo. Many powers, like Greece and all European Union countries, especially Germany, also took part in this conspiracy. When Rêber Apo went to Europe, they did not grant him political asylum. Rêber Apo wanted to be tried, but they didn’t put him on trial. Because if they had tried him, the Kurdish question would have been on the agenda of European and international public opinion. By preventing his right to political asylum and his trial, they almost led to his extermination. They put pressure on Italy, and Rêber Apo was forced to leave the country. One should not overlook that regional powers also took part in the conspiracy. For example, Egypt took part in the conspiracy, Iran perhaps played a side role, and Russia took part in it as well. All of them realized that they could not intervene in the Middle East unless Rêber Apo and the PKK were neutralized.

After the conspiracy, Al-Qaeda attacked America in 2001, and using this as a justification, America intervened in Afghanistan. In March 2003, America intervened in Iraq. Saddam was liquidated, and civil war broke out in Iraq. Step by step, a federation was created in southern Kurdistan. They wanted to align the whole of southern Kurdistan with the KDP in order to use it as a collaborationist and treasonous force. In this way, they aimed to take everything under their control. In fact, the KDP and the Barzani family clan took a very active part in the conspiracy. The PKK is a very strong revolutionary, democratic, and socialist movement that leads the peoples in the Middle East.

Opportunities would arise from chaos in the Middle East, and they calculated that the PKK would take advantage of this, that it would grow even more, that it would make the Kurdish freedom movement permanent, and that the freedom of Kurdistan would be inevitable under the leadership of the PKK. There would be a revolution in Kurdistan and a democratic revolution in the Middle East, and when this happened, the calculations, plans, and concepts of the conspirators would come to naught. Because the people do not want intervention from outside, they will revolt against it; they will not accept hegemonic, occupying forces. In order to prevent this, they carried out the conspiracy.

Also important to underline is that in 1998, Rêber Apo had declared a ceasefire before leaving Syria. He wanted to solve the Kurdish question in a political and democratic way. On this basis, he called on the Turkish state and asked for democratic negotiation. The hegemonic powers saw this as a threat to their interests. If the Kurdish question were to be resolved in this way, they would not be able to abuse Turkey as they would like. Therefore, with the conspiracy, they intervened in the democratic and political solution process of Rêber Apo and blocked it. The conspiracy is a conspiracy against the Kurdish people, the peoples of the Middle East, and particularly women.

Rêber Apo represents their freedom, so the Kurds, the peoples of the Middle East, and women are targeted through the attack on the person of Rêber Apo. Rêber Apo, with the stance he exhibited, has thwarted the attacks and traps against him one by one. Our people saw the truth quickly and rose up; millions of people rose up in all four parts of Kurdistan and abroad. Our people, our international friends, the democratic forces, and everyone who saw the conspiracy and the danger rose up. Particularly the Kurdish women played a leading role. There were many sacrifices; our comrades, our patriotic people, burned themselves; some turned their own bodies into weapons. The conspiracy was met with great reaction by our people, by the guerrilla, and particularly by women. This had a huge impact on the conspiratorial forces. That is why they did not dare to physically destroy Rêber Apo. Rêber Apo also took precautions and adopted a strategic policy, which made the conspiracy futile. Since the conspiratorial forces could not physically destroy him, they continued the conspiracy with the isolation method. This time with isolation, they wanted to neutralize Rêber Apo, cut his ties with the outside world, and prevent his voice from reaching the peoples. For 26 years, there has been isolation against him.

From time to time, the struggle against it reached intense peaks; from time to time, campaigns took place and massive actions took place. For example, the “Êdî Bese”
campaign had a huge impact. Whenever the enemy was under great pressure, they sometimes eased the isolation. Sometimes they did this for their own interests.

For example, from time to time, the lawyers of Rêber Apo would go to hold talks with him, and HDP delegations would go to Imrali from 2014 until April 2015. The state carried out a tactic for its own interests. As I said, sometimes the isolation was alleviated, but basically, Rêber Apo has been under isolation for 26 years. Most of the time they said that the ferry to the island was out of order; many times they used the excuse of bad weather, and in this way they continued the isolation. Now, for more than five years, they have been using disciplinary punishment as an excuse. That is all part of the concept of the conspirators. Along with isolation, they are also conducting a great genocide policy against the Kurdish people. They want to break the will of the Kurdish people in this way, to surrender them. This is how they aim to bring the conspiracy to its goal. For this reason, a huge war has been waged for 26 years, centered in Imrali.

In northern Kurdistan, there is a military war, there are constant operations, and cultural and natural genocide persists without any break. They are attacking every day to liquidate the Rojava Revolution. To destroy those who waged a great war against ISIS and Al-Nusra. The Kobane war was part of this, as was the occupation of Afrin. When they could not use ISIS actively anymore, they started to use tens of thousands of gang remnants and mercenaries against the Kurdish people. They attacked Afrin, Serekaniye, Gire Spi, Shengal (Sinjar), and Makhmur. There is an invasion, and the occupation attacks in southern Kurdistan are now continuing for four or five years. This all happens within the frame of the Misak-i Milli. The war has never stopped, and the conspiracy has always continued. These attacks were the continuation of the conspiracy. The international powers involved in the conspiracy back then are also taking part in the attacks carried out by Turkey now.

The war continues in northern and southern Kurdistan, as it does in Rojava. The Turkish state is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in this war, but no one objects it; in fact, they support it. Right now, the Israeli state is carrying out a genocidal policy against the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people – the Turkish state has been doing this for a hundred years. Especially in the last ten years, it has been waging this war much more violently. Israel takes the Turkish state as an example in these attacks. They share the same mentality, the same understanding, and carry out the same policy.

As you mentioned, Rêber Apo, the Kurdish people, the guerrillas, and the international friends of the Kurdish people did not surrender to the conspiracy and waged a continuous struggle against it. How do you evaluate the ongoing struggle against the conspiracy?

After 26 years, the Turkish state is still waging a war against Rêber Apo and the Kurdish people. It is so because the conspiracy that started on October 9, 1998 did not yield any results. In the first year of the conspiracy, they wanted to physically destroy Rêber Apo and liquidate the PKK. They aimed to bring the genocide concept to a conclusion in two years at most. They could not achieve their goal because there was great resistance against the conspiracy. Our people were always and everywhere in resistance. That is why the conspiracy failed. They could not physically destroy Rêber Apo, they could not liquidate the PKK until today, they could not break the will of the free Kurds, they could not force them to surrender. Our people waged a great struggle, so the conspiracy could not achieve its goal.

When one evaluates these 26 years, one sees that the resistance developed by Rêber Apo in Imrali had a great impact on the Kurdish people and the peoples of the region. Rêber Apo developed the paradigm of a democratic nation under conditions of torture and isolation in Imrali. He wrote five books defending the rights of the Kurdish people, women, and oppressed peoples in every sense and defending human values. Rêber Apo revealed the ideological, philosophical, and theoretical aspects of the paradigm he developed for the freedom of the Kurdish people, for the freedom of peoples and women.

The prison writings were read and evaluated by the Kurdish people, the movement, and our international friends, and this created a great consciousness. Like this, the paradigm of the democratic nation frustrated the international conspiracy. Because the aim of the conspiracy was to create an endless war between Kurds and Turks, between Kurdish people and Arab people, between Kurdish people and Persian people. In other words, they wanted the peoples in the whole region to be enemies of each other on the basis of racism, on the basis of religionism, and to be in perpetual war. The conspiracy had set such a trap for the peoples. The paradigm of democratic nation refuted this conspiracy.

This paradigm was based on the coexistence of all peoples in a fraternal, free, and democratic system. The nation-state system maintains its power permanently with its divide-rule policy. Rêber Apo deciphered this with the paradigm of democratic nation. Our people also waged a struggle within the framework of this paradigm. They paved the way for a revolution in the region based on this. The paradigm created a great change in mentality; it created a great change and transformation in the peoples. The Rojava Revolution is the result of this. And the Rojava Revolution had had an undoubtedly huge impact on peoples all over the world. This is very important. It created great chaos in the nation-state system. It weakened the system and created a free, democratic, and equal life for the peoples.

The struggle of the Kurdish people has had a huge impact on the peoples of the Middle East today. It has prepared a great ground for the democratization of the Middle East. And the resistance continues on this axis. That is why the attacks also continue. Because the hegemonic powers evaluate this resistance as a danger. That is why they continue the isolation. Because the plans of the conspirators do not yield results, Rêber Apo has deciphered them all. Our people frustrated them all with their resistance. No matter what the conspiratorial forces did, the conspiracy could not achieve its goal. In every period, the conspiracy was frustrated. Today, the paradigm of democratic nation, the democratic confederal system, has become the alternative of a free life for the Kurdish people, for the people of the region, and for all peoples of the world.

For 26 years, the struggle waged by Rêber Apo, our people, and our international friends has unmasked the Turkish state and the forces of capitalist modernity, revealing their true faces. That is why they have gone mad; they have fallen into a great hatred. With this hatred, they are going after Rêber Apo and are imposing absolute isolation. They are hostile to Rêber Apo, free Kurds, the freedom movement, and Kurdistan. That is why the conspiratorial forces support the Turkish state. But as I stressed out, the resistance continues as well. No matter what they do, they cannot get results.

For 26 years, our people, our international friends, and particularly women have resisted. They have frustrated the conspiracy; they have prevented the conspiracy from achieving its goal. Rêber Apo’s influence on the peoples is greater today than ever before. Rêber Apo is now the leader of the peoples, his influence has spread all over the world. The freedom movement is standing with all its strength, fighting with all its might; our people are standing and struggling. The conspiratorial forces lost, the liberation forces, and the resistant peoples won. Even though they persistently continue the conspiracy, today the resistance still continues. The resistance of Rêber Apo continues. As a result, this conspiracy has failed. No matter how much they want to cover up this reality, this fact, they cannot succeed. The conspiracy has not yielded any results so far, and it will not in the future. Our people and all the peoples will not allow the conspiracy to get results.

The global campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ is approaching its first anniversary. What has been its impact, and what have been the achievements in the course of the past year?

The campaign that was launched on October 10, 2023, is of great significance. In this one-year period, a great struggle took place, and the carried-out resistance successfully achieved some important results. It is a campaign that is being led by our international friends. That is why it had such a strong impact all over the world. Rêber Apo’s prison writings were read all over the world. The truth, paradigm, and ideas of Rêber Apo to be understood and recognized are very crucial. The fact that they spread had great consequences in terms of embracing Rêber Apo and demanding his physical freedom. Many conferences were organized; academics, artists, and intellectuals discussed his paradigm and wrote articles. All of these also had a serious impact and are very important. Again, for example, there were concerts, artists supported the campaign, raised their voices for Rêber Apo’s physical freedom, and voiced their demands. 69 Nobel Prize-laureates wrote letters to the regarding authorities and also raised their voices for Rêber Apo’s freedom.

Unions in England and Scotland, which have thousands of members, made a statement for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. More than 1500 lawyers wrote letters, made statements, and called on the authorities for Rêber Apo. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) had to make many statements; most recently, the institutions of the Council of Europe met, held discussions, and also had to react. The reason for all this is the resistance, the struggle. This universalized the campaign for Rêber Apo’s physical freedom. We can say that the campaign launched to demand Rêber Apo’s physical freedom has gone far beyond the borders of Kurdistan and that there is a mass embrace all over the world. In the four parts of Kurdistan, especially in northern Kurdistan and Rojava, as well as abroad, our people were constantly on their feet.

Our people also waged a very effective struggle. It has been like this for years, but especially in the last year, the struggle has grown even more. The struggle on a social, legal, ideological, political, and diplomatic level, and particularly the spreading of the paradigm, has brought upon some serious results. Today, the occupying Turkish state reached a dead end. This campaign squeezed the conspiratorial forces; they had to make statement after statement, justification after justification. That shows the success and importance of the campaign. Now we must evaluate these results in order to find the correct ways to achieve even bigger success. There are opportunities and conditions in every sense for the campaign to succeed, and it is inevitable that we will get results in the coming year.