Şaho Cudi: The people of South Kurdistan trust the PKK

Guerrilla Şaho Cudi has been a PKK member for 22 years, previously he was a Peshmerga. He comes from South Kurdistan and speaks of a "remarkable trust" of the population in the PKK.

HPG fighter Saho Cudi was born in Germiyan, southern Kurdistan. From 1994 to 1998 he was Peshmerga fighter, then he joined the guerrilla. "The PKK was for me before a party that stood for a social revolution in Kurdistan. It was an illegal organization and I did not know the party or its members, but their practice showed that they really are committed to the future and interests of the people of Kurdistan," the guerrilla warrior tells and continues:

"Today the situation in South Kurdistan is even more chaotic than it was back then. Even in the time of Birakujî [fratricide, the wartime period between the Kurdish parties PKK, KDP and PUK], the crisis was not as solid as it is today. In the 1990s, the enemy was clearer, the population tried to preserve its own existence and the South Kurdistan forces existed over it. Today the contradictions are much deeper. There is no more Saddam, but the people of South Kurdistan are almost made to miss the Saddam period. What Saddam did openly and concretely is being done by the southern parties today, they have sold Kurdistan bit by bit. They leave all wealth to the colonialists and capitalists to enrich their own family. In return, the people in the South get poorer every day. The parties are in power with economic and military oppression, and the people are aware of that. There is no ideal connection between rulers and the population at all. Emotionally, the people are on our side.”

The PKK protects the South in every respect

Şaho Cudi emphasizes that the people of "Bashure Kurdistan", the southern part of Kurdistan, have a deep patriotic awareness: "Their patriotism cannot be denied. The population is still trying to resist the ethical decline and live their own values. They are loyal to their country and have their own ethical values, which it does not try to enforce in the modern-day buildings of justice, but with its own solutions. However, this approach is intended to be destroyed. People are aware that their humanistic background is protected by the PKK, so they consider the PKK as a solvent. They have a really remarkable trust in the PKK. The attitude of Abdullah Öcalan plays a major role here."

Şaho Cudi joined the PKK in August 1998: "It was at this time that Rebêr (Leader) Apo left Syria. The only thing I regret in my guerrilla life is the fact that I did not join earlier. It still hurts of my heart that I could not meet him personally. Of course, it is also a cause for self-criticism that I have failed in my 22-year guerrilla life to ensure his physical freedom.”