The Executive Committee of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) calls for united struggle against the fascist system of the AKP/MHP government in a written statement published on Sunday concerning the Imralı torture system after media reports of a fire on the island where Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan is held together with Veysi Aktaş, Hamili Yıldıırm and Ömer Hayri Konar.

The statement includes the following:

"We are living through days of historical significance. The fascist genocide system has raised the total special war attack to the highest level. Against this, the resistance of the revolutionary people's struggle is rising everywhere. The conflict between the US and Iran influences the whole region and the world. The war in Idlib between the Turkish and Russian states, which were enemy brothers and sisters in the last years, has deepened and Turkey is obviously experiencing an important defeat. Women have started the celebrations of the most significant 8 March in history and our people are preparing for the Newroz celebrations, the feast of freedom.

Lack of clarity on the fire at Imrali

In this atmosphere, Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish special war chief, told the public in a television program on 27 February that a fire had broken out on Imrali. When the Kurdish people and their friends took this succinct statement seriously and reacted strongly, the Bursa governor's office announced that the fire is under control. Three days have passed since then. Although the Kurdish people and revolutionary-democratic forces have taken to the streets in all parts of Kurdistan and abroad within these three days, no further statement has been made by official bodies of Turkey. The demand for lawyers to go to Imrali and inform the public credibly about the situation on the prison island is still not answered by the AKP government. This further increases concerns.

If this is not a simple method of psychological warfare, new incidents are apparently taking place on Imrali. The repression against Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held hostage on Imrali, and the other comrades is increasing. The AKP/MHP coalition, which does not know a way out in the face of the resistance of the Kurdish people and also suffers a defeat in Idlib, wants to vent its anger about this on Imrali. There is no other explanation for the fact that a fire breaks out on a small island in the sea in the middle of winter and the public is informed about it in a carefree manner. This situation shows that the safety Abdullah Öcalan and his fellow prisoners is under threat. This shows how important our fight against the isolation system on Imrali is. As long as Abdullah Öcalan cannot live and work freely, his health and safety problems cannot be solved.

Responsible for Imrali are Turkey and the US-led forces

As is well known, Imrali is not an ordinary place. Here Abdullah Öcalan is being held as a political hostage, representing the Kurdish people's desire for freedom and all the oppressed. Therefore there happen no natural incidents at Imrali. Any incident on Imralı has an ideological and political meaning. Therefore, the reported fire has an ideological and political meaning. On the other hand, it should be noted that the aforementioned political hostage system does not only belong to the Turkish state but was created by the US-led system of global capitalist modernity. Therefore, together with the Turkish state, the US-dominated forces are also responsible for everything that happens on Imrali. In particular, the Council of Europe and its anti-torture committee CPT are responsible.

As the liberation movement of Kurdistan, as the Kurdish people and as all revolutionary democratic forces, we declare once again that we hold the Turkish state, the AKP/MHP government and the US-led system responsible for everything that happens on Imrali. Every form of wickedness will continue to be retaliated in the future as before. Nobody will benefit from this evil. All hands that are directed against Abdullah Öcalan and the revolutionary prisoners will be broken.”

Collapse of the fascist system

The PKK calls on people to take to the streets against isolation and fascism until conditions are met under which Abdullah Öcalan can live and work freely. According to the statement, this call is directed mainly at the peoples and democratic forces in Turkey:

"The current situation in Idlib shows that the mentality and politics determined by Kurdish hostility is experiencing a defeat and is in a process of collapse. The peoples of Turkey, women and youth, intellectuals and labourers pay the price. And this situation is directly related to the existence of the isolation system on Imrali. We are very aware that the people of Turkey do not deserve this situation. They have the right to live freely, democratically and fraternally in this beautiful country. In order to get there, we must fight. Above all, we must fight against the system of isolation torture on Imrali. Fascism, the source of all evil, will be crushed by this struggle. Turkey will become free and democratic on the basis of the destruction of the Imrali system.

Everything depends on our struggle

Our people and our friends must be aware that Abdullah Öcalan and with him the free and democratic future of us all is seriously threatened. 21 years after the international conspiracy, the AKP/MHP government is trying to keep itself on its feet with its hostage and blackmail policy. The internal fragmentation and the growing isolation from the masses, as well as the defeats in the wars in Syria and Libya show the collapse and the dissolution process of the fascist government. Their increasing aggressiveness and the special war methods are an attempt to prevent this collapse. The AKP/MHP fascism has no chance to survive against the effective and holistic struggle for freedom and democracy that we will lead. Everything depends on the strength of our struggle. Therefore, let us unite our forces and increase the revolutionary-democratic resistance everywhere in order to break through the isolation on Imrali, smash the AKP/MHP fascism, democratize Turkey and liberate Kurdistan!”