Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Executive Committee stated that the Kurdish people reject the February 15 plot and its concrete manifestation the Imrali torture and isolation system on its 20th anniversary. The committee said: “They don't want to live with them anymore. On the contrary, they want the isolation broken, fascism torn down and Leader Abdullah Ocalan living freely able to work.”

The PKK Executive Committee issued a written statement about the 20th anniversary of the international plot against the peoples of Kurdistan and the Middle East in the person of Ocalan. The statement is as follows:

RESISTANCE BEYOND HUMAN ABILITY

We are witnessing the closing of 20 years of the February 15 international plot and the beginning of year 21. Leader Abdullah Ocalan has been displaying a resistance beyond human ability against the Imrali torture and isolation system for twenty years. We first salute the sacred resistance for freedom and its architect Leader Abdullah Ocalan. We commend our people's 20 years of resistance against the plot, and remember the valiant martyrs of the “You Can't Darken Our Sun” resistance against the plot in the person's of comrades Halit Oral and Aynur Artan with respect and gratitude. We repeat our promise to fulfill their goals and keep their memory alive.

GREETING THE NEW YEAR WITH RESISTANCE MOVE

As the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and the peoples of Kurdistan, we greet the 21st year of the February 15 plot with the “Break the Isolation, Tear Down Fascism, Free Kurdistan” resistance move. The historic move for freedom started by Democratic Society Congress Co-chair and HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Guven has spread throughout the Middle East and the world, and has created panic in the AKP-MHP fascism. It is understood that the resistance move will develop constantly with new and rich actions and break the Imrali torture and isolation system, sending the February 15 plot to the trash of history in the 21st year. With this basis, we salute all valiant activists of the “Break the Isolation, Tear Down Fascism” Move for Freedom in the persons of Leyla Guven and Nasir Yagiz, and state our deep faith that they will achieve the greatest victories for freedom in the coming weeks and months.

INVITATION TO CLEAR THE DARK STAIN

As it is known, the international plot aiming to disband the Kurdish existence and freedom in the person of Leader Abdullah Ocalan started with the removal of Leader Apo from Syria on October 9, 1998 and reached a new level on February 15, 1999 when he was abducted from Kenya and placed in the Imrali isolation and torture system. The governments at the time of Israel, the UK, Russia, France, Germany, Egypt and Greece and any others that were needed aided the US administration in actualizing the February 15 plot. The Leader for Freedom for our age who fought for the freedom of all peoples and humanity in the person of the Kurdish people was taken hostage and a dark stain was cast in human history. This attack was a historic insult against the Kurds and all peoples, women and all the oppressed. We are calling on all involved powers to end the Imrali torture and isolation system they created and to clear the insult and dark stain.

ALL STEM FROM THE IMRALI SYSTEM

We see better today that the plot was based on the century-old Kuriish issue that manifested in the Imrali torture and isolation system. We know very well that the Kurdish issue is the mindset and policy of genocide based on the refusal to recognize the Kurdish people and to attempt to destroy them. The fascism, the special war, the collapse attack plans, the massacres and arrests, the daily violent attacks from Afrin to Bradost, and all fascist oppression and terror stem from this. All these have transformed into a fascist dictatorship today, based on the Imrali torture and isolation system. Thus, it all comes back to the Imrali torture and isolation system.

CALL FOR ALL ANTIFASCIST FORCES

As such, standing against the Imrali torture and isolation system also means standing against Kurdish genocide, the February 15 plot and the fascist dictatorship. It is an expression of antifascism and defending freedom and democracy. On this basis, all who consider themselves to be antifascist and democrats should object to the Imrali torture and isolation system and to fight to achieve Leader Abdullah Ocalan’s free living and working conditions. The path to peace and democracy in Kurdistan, Turkey and the Middle East is through such action. To this end, we are calling on all antifascist and democratic forces in the Middle East and throughout the world to join the resistance move and to develop actions along this line wherever they are.

THERE IS NO SEMBLANCE OF DEMOCRACY LEFT IN TURKEY

The vile February 15 plot targeted the existence and freedom of the Kurdish people, but it also targeted democracy in Turkey with the same force. In 20 years, where we stand is clear: The Kurdish people have resisted with thousands of martyrs, but the result is the AKP-MHP fascist dictatorship. There is virtually no semblance of democracy left in Turkey. The February 15 plot and the Imrali torture and isolation system is synonymous with the fascist oppression, terror and exploitation in Turkey, with hunger and poverty, with blood and tears. So, it should be the peoples of Turkey, women, youth and workers who object the loudest to the February 15 plot and its concrete manifestation in the Imrali torture and isolation system. On this basis, we are calling on the HBDH and all revolutionary and democratic forces in Turkey, all women, youth and workers, all intellectuals and artists to join the Break the Isolation Tear Down Fascism Resistance Move and to develop the struggle for a Democratic Turkey.

IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE UNDER THIS SYSTEM ANYMORE

We know that our people have declared February 15 the Dark Day, and have objected to the plot with any and all manners of protest, including fasting, for 20 years, in initiatives to end the plot in their minds and hearts. We also know that Leader Abdullah Ocalan has called it the “Day of Kurdish Genocide” and issued calls for a struggle for freedom and democracy against the plot. As such, February 15 has turned into a great and extensive day of resistance and action. We greet the 20th anniversary of February 15 with a move for total resistance as a Movement and as a people. There are hunger strikes, marches, rallies, demonstrations and guerrilla actions everywhere. The Kurdish people reject the February 15 plot and its concrete manifestation the Imrali torture and isolation system on its 20th anniversary, they don't want to live with them anymore. On the contrary, they want the isolation broken, fascism torn down and Leader Abdullah Ocalan living freely able to work.

KURDISH PEOPLE ARE RESOLUTE

All should see, know and understand that the Kurdish people and their friends are completely resolute in this issue. Kurdish women and youth are resolute. Our party and our valiant guerrillas are resolute. Nobody can stop these forces now, or force them to live with the Imrali torture and isolation system. All these forces are vanguards of freedom, from the youngest to the oldest, and will continue the total freedom move they started until Leader Abdullah Ocalan achieves free living and working conditions. Every Kurdish individual will turn wherever they are into a resistance ground for freedom. They will invoke all they have and manifest the most creative methods of protest. In doing so, they will create a heroic stance, a life of sacrifice and a new Kurdistan and a new world around Leader Apo’s freedom and against the AKP-MHP fascism and the Imrali isolation system.

AKP-MHP FASCISM WILL COLLAPSE

Our people and our friends will resist and the Imrali torture and isolation system will fall, bringing the AKP-MHP fascism down with it.

The isolation will be broken, fascism will be torn down and the

February 15 plot and the Imrali torture system will be sent to the trash of history.

The 21st year will be the year when the isolation is broken, fascism is torn down, Kurdistan is freed and victory is achieved for our resistance.

We are calling on all comrades in the party, our valiant guerrilla forces, all our people and our friends, and all women and youth, to raise the struggle for freedom against the plot and the Imrali torture and isolation system on the 20th anniversary of the plot, and make the 21st year into a year when Leader Apo achieves free living and working conditions!”