Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Executive Committee Member and People’s Defense Central Headquarters (HSM) Commander Murat Karayılan spoke to Stêrk TV about Abdullah Öcalan's recent remarks and the situation in the guerrilla war.

Highlights from the interview with the top guerrilla commander are as follows.

Abdullah Öcalan said during his last meeting with lawyers that he could solve the Kurdish question within a week if the state were to behave seriously. How do you rate this statement as a military force?

Leader Apo has said he is ready for a solution and highlighted the importance of the State mind to achieve this. The result will depend on the extent to which this State mind gets involved in the process. He also said that he wants to create a space for the Kurds. This is very important. This space he wants to create is not just something for the Kurds in the north (of Kurdistan). The Kurds need a free area in the region. As long as the Turkish state does not recognize the Kurds domestically, it also poses a threat to the Kurds outside of Turkey. It is currently threatening Rojava and Southern Kurdistan. For this threat to end, the Turkish state must recognize the Kurdish reality. It's all about this. This state does not accept Kurdish existence.

The Turkish state wants to weaken the PKK and tries to make impositions on Leader Apo. According to information available to us, the Turkish intelligence chief announced at a meeting with certain circles that they would make the PKK first weaken and then dissolve. The PKK cannot be weakened. It is a movement that renews itself and gets bigger in the most difficult times. The PKK has such dynamics and philosophy. If it gets harassed, it goes on the offensive.

The people in the PKK fight for their dignity and their honor. They gave their word to the people, their companions, the martyrs, and Leader Apo. What should they be afraid of? There is nothing that can scare them. In times of fiercest attacks, a synergy arises, which makes them resist and go into action. Because of this dialectic, the PKK has launched effective offensives in times when the enemy claimed to have weakened it. If the state wears out the efforts of Abdullah Öcalan, it will lose himself. As the Kurdish movement and guerrillas, we stand behind Leader Apo. What counts for us is what he says. But we are guerrillas, our task is the military struggle. Our chairman endeavors and if a corresponding instruction comes, we will definitively comply with it.

The guerrillas inflict blows on the Turkish army in southern and northern Kurdistan with creative tactics. What is the current situation of Kurdistan's freedom guerrilla?

We are now fighting more professionally with selected fighters and professionals in small groups. Sometimes it does not come to the desired results, there are some deficiencies. I can name that openly. We have three enemies, these are our own shortcomings, habits and occupation. As for our habits, the Kurdish people are conservative and do not change quickly. When it gets used to something, it does not give up that habit so quickly. This also applies to the guerrillas, for example, in contact with the villages or in their moves against the enemy.

In this context, we want to completely modernize and professionalize the guerrillas. It is about the success against the intelligence and the technology of the enemy. We focus on it intensively. The enemy fights the war relying on reconnaissance, combat aircraft and cutting-edge technology. It has long been beaten on the ground, now it wants to make up for this defeat with its aircraft and technology. We will not allow that. We also use material technics, but at the same time we benefit from human technics. With the experience we have made, we want to frustrate all their technology. In practice, we move in small groups of three to four people. For a given occasion, these three people can suddenly become 300 people and smash the target. It's about a Ghost Guerrilla: it is nowhere to be seen, but it is everywhere. It does not strike directly as before, but with a certain technique and method. We focus on tactical richness and human success. As is known, we fight on the basis of the ideology of Abdullah Öcalan with high commitment and sacrifice.

The Turkish occupiers talk every day about their forces having taken Xakurke. How is the situation in reality?

In the beginning, there were some deficiencies in Xakurke that benefited the enemy. The guerrillas, however, recovered quickly. At a reasonable time, they divided into ten groups in a coordinated manner. There is now a major resistance in Xakurke. At the moment, the enemy has captured Likikan and Şekîf in Xakurke, a place of strategic importance, as well as Valley Ermûş, Evdilkovî, Valley Arê and Karker Slopes. It is arguable who controls Xakurke now. The guerrillas conduct their most effective actions in Ermûş and Misokê. Guerrilla actions take place throughout Xakurke. The guerrillas are in constant motion there. Nowhere does the enemy succeed in dominating an area. In the past, our forces used to retreat when the enemy invaded Xakurke. Now the enemy has the guerrillas constantly behind them. The guerrilla is always close enough to hit. Despite the mobilization of aircraft force every day, the soldiers on the mountain peaks cannot defend themselves. They are protected from the air. This applies to all hills in Xakurke. The guerrilla has the upper hand. One should not believe the lies of the enemy. If it were up to Turkish Interior Minister Soylu and the media close to the AKP, we would have been annihilated long ago.

The same goes for Zap, Avashin and Cilo regions as well. The enemy is everywhere but the guerrilla is always inside them. Our people should rest assured that the guerrilla will defeat AKP’s intelligence and technology and will win. This is a challenging war, we are giving martyrs. Should we put our methods and tactics into practice in all areas, the success will definitely be ours.

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