Cemil Bayik, KCK co-chair spoke about the latest developments in Kurdistan, the Middle East and the world, including Turkey´s isolation policy against Abdullah Öcalan, the death penalty in Turkey´s prisons, the danger of Turkey´s attacks on South Kurdistan for the whole Middle East, the danger of Iraq falling apart, the harm inflicted on the Kurdish People by the KDP´s policy and the recent murder of the Kurdish patriot Mihemed Zekî Çelebî in Süleymaniye.

Isolation of Abdullah Öcalan on Turkish Prison Island Imrali

“The Turkish state says that because of disciplinary penalties nobody is allowed to meet Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan]. Thus, they want to create the impression that they are following the law. This approach has become a constant policy. They don´t only use disciplinary penalties once, but always give a new one before the current one has even ended. Thus, they prolong these penalties every six months. They want to make the isolation of Rêber Apo constant. By doing this, they seek to cut Rêber Apo off from humanity, the people and our movement. They want to silence him so that people forget about him. They try to force us and everybody else to accept this. But this is absolutely impossible. Neither our movement, nor the Kurdish people or anybody who defends human values can accept this. Because this isolation policy of the Turkish state against Rêber Apo is against the Kurdish people and humanity.

Currently, there is an international campaign for Rêber Apo. With the isolation policy, the Turkish state wants to obstruct this campaign. Furthermore, in European law there is the `right to hope` which grants people who have been imprisoned for 24 years the right to have their conditions improved and be released. Rêber Apo has been imprisoned for 24 years now. As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey knows that this issue will be put on the agenda and seeks to prevent exactly this. Therefore, they say that Rêber Apo is still in prison because he has not given up his goals. Consequently, they give him disciplinary penalties. People with disciplinary penalties don´t get the chance to have their situation reviewed, their conditions improved and to be released. This is what Turkey is trying to make Europe accept.

Sixteen English trade unions have recently published a call, sent a letter to Turkey and made an international statement in support of Rêber Apo and the Kurdish people. They demand that the Turkish state stops its war against Rêber Apo, the Kurdish people and the guerrillas and that it puts an end to its genocidal occupation and the ban of the Kurdish culture and language. And they demand that the Turkish state sits down with the Kurds and solves the Kurdish question. Furthermore, Italian trade unions organized a demonstration and called on the Turkish state to stop its policy against Rêber Apo, the Kurdish people and the guerrillas. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the trade unions of Italy and England and congratulate them on their very important work. Our movement and our people will never forget this. Now, they need to increase their work even more so that they can mobilize trade unions from other countries and the European public as well. Thus, they will be able to achieve very important results.”

Death Penalty in Turkey´s Prisons

Bayik said: “If the Turkish state doesn´t achieve any results in the prisons, its policy against the Kurdish people will also not lead to anything outside of the prisons. The political prisoners represent the Kurdish people. If you want to annihilate the Kurdish people, you need to crush the willpower of the political prisoners. This is why the Turkish state carries out such brutal attacks against the prisons. Turkey deceives everybody by claiming that it has put an end to the death penalty. This is a lie. Death penalties continue to be carried out in the prisons. Thus, they are taking revenge on many revolutionary and democratic prisoners who refuse to accept their policy of capitulation. They simply murder them. Every day, new corpses leave the prisons. Sick prisoners are not allowed to receive treatment. They want all these people to die in prison. Many calls for the release of these people have been made but the Turkish state refuses to release them. The Turkish state murders these prisoners. And when they turn over their corpses, they claim that they have died because of an illness that could not be identified, that they just died or that it might have been Corona. All these claims are not true. It is absolutely obvious, that these political prisoners are being tortured to death and that their corpses are then turned over to their families. This clearly is a way of taking revenge.”

Danger of Turkey´s Attacks on South Kurdistan for Whole Middle East

Bayik added: “The war in [the South Kurdish areas] Zap and Avaşîn did not start on April 14 or 17 of this year. Actually, it started on August 26, 2016. On that day, when Turkey attacked [the North Syrian city] Cerablus, Biden and Mesûd Barzanî were in Ankara. Therefore, it is clear that the USA, Turkey and the KDP made this decision together. Based on their common decision, Turkey attacked Cerablus. Ever since that day, this policy has continued. As a result, the policy against the Kurdish people in North Kurdistan continues, in Rojava [the areas] Efrîn, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî have been occupied, just like Cerablûs and Bab, and in South Kurdistan an attempt to occupy the region has been started. The current events in Zap and Avaşîn are also a result of this same policy. Therefore, Turkey might appear to be waging this war in Zap and Avaşîn, but it is actually NATO. We are fighting against NATO. Not only today, but we have been fighting against NATO ever since the PKK was founded. Because Turkey is a NATO member, it receives very comprehensive support from NATO. Without the help of NATO, Turkey could have never waged this war until now. NATO is the one that decides to wage this war and Turkey simply puts this decision into practice. And the KDP collaborates with Turkey in line with this NATO decision.

The war in Zap and Avaşîn is not just an operation, like they claim. Calling it an operation is simply an attempt to deceive. This is a huge war. I can clearly say that the current war in Zap and Avaşîn is not like the war that Turkey has been waging against us until now. It is completely different. Both the Turkish state and the AKP-MHP government consider this war strategic for themselves. They see this as a war that will decide whether they will survive or not. That is why they have mobilized all their resources both in- and outside of the country for this war in order to stay in power and allow the Turkish state to remain on its feet. This is the reason why they are using the most modern technology and have deployed a huge number of troops. They simply don´t care about how many of their soldiers and Islamist proxy forces die there. Their order is clear: “You need to achieve results.” Therefore, they are using war planes, drones, helicopters, artillery and chemical weapons in order to achieve their desired results.

Their goal in this war is to crush the PKK and thus be able to carry out their genocidal policy. But this is not their only goal. During World War I, the Ottomans lost a lot of territory. That is why they drew a border which they called Mîsak-î Mîllî [National Pact]. Within these borders, they wanted to re-establish their state and continue their hegemony. But because of the Treaty of Lausanne, this did not happen and they lost some of the territories that they had defined as their own as part of the Mîsak-î Mîllî. The Turkish state has never accepted this. Therefore, Erdogan and Bahceli say that they need to reach the Mîsak-î Mîllî borders. They consider the current conditions in the world and in the Middle East to be convenient for achieving this goal. In order to be able to do so, they want to crush the PKK and carry out a genocide against the Kurds. Because if they don´t achieve any results in this regard, they won´t be able to achieve their goal. The current war in Zap does therefore not only affect the Kurds but all peoples in the region. If the PKK and the Kurdish people suffer a decisive blow, everybody will suffer great harm and nobody will be able to stay on their feet. Then, AKP-MHP fascism will be able to establish itself in all of Turkey.

“Erdogan and Bahceli are not only using the Turkish army, but also Islamist proxy forces. The same proxy forces that they used in Libya and Azerbaijan, they are now using to wage this war [in Zap and Avaşîn]. And they are also deploying village guards from Turkey. With the help of all of these forces and by using chemical weapons, they want to achieve results. The HPG and YJA-Star guerrilla are putting up a heroic resistance against all of these attacks. The Turkish state had planned to achieve results quickly with its huge force and with the help of heavy bombardments. According to their plans, they would have thus taken control of Zap and carried on with their Mîsak-î Mîllî and neo-Ottoman aspirations. But the guerrilla forces have defeated this plan and have not allowed this policy to succeed. They have dealt huge blows to them. The Central Command [of the HPG] publishes balance sheets of the war daily, weekly and monthly. They clearly show that the Turkish state continues to suffer huge blows. The AKP-MHP government had planned to carry out early elections and have used all their resources to make this possible. But they have suffered huge blows and are unable to achieve any results in Zap. Zap will become a graveyard for them and the AKP-MHP government will fall. Therefore, everybody needs to refrain from keeping close ties with Erdogan and Bahceli and from supporting their policy. Whoever continues to support their policy will loose. Among the Kurds, this is the case for the KDP and in Turkey this holds true for the CHP and the Iyi Parti. Whoever stays close to this government and supports its policy will loose.

In front of everybody´s eyes, chemical weapons are being used every single day. But everybody just remains silent. A delegation wanted to investigate the use of chemical weapons in the affected areas but England prevented this. Why does England prevent such a delegation? Because if this delegation comes and documents the use of chemical weapons, this will turn into a problem for them. That is why England does not want the truth to become clear. England also provides Turkey with new weapons. Media reports have shown this. The US, England, Germany and Israel stand behind this war. And the KDP works with Turkey in line with the decision of these forces. So NATO is actively involved in this war which is why this is a war against NATO.”

Danger of Iraq Falling Apart

Bayik continued: “Iraq is weak. Everybody sees this and wants to benefit from this situation. Many forces are putting pressure on Iraq and some are even directly intervening into the country. They want to increase their influence in Iraq and thus be able to impose their policy on the Iraqi state. Iraq has remained silent regarding the current war in Zap. They might have made some statements, but this only happened because they didn´t have any other option. If they hadn´t made any statements and hadn´t voiced their criticism, neither Iraq nor the Arab people would have accepted this. Therefore, they made a statement in order to avoid protests from the Iraqi people and the Arab people. But their statements were very weak. Turkey, the KDP and the US know this very well and want to benefit from the weakness of Iraq. Iraqi airspace is under the control of the US. Without the approval of the USA, the war planes of the Turkish states cannot fly over Iraq and South Kurdistan. Turkey´s war planes and helicopters can only scout and bomb the area because the US has opened Iraqi airspace for them. This clearly shows that NATO and the US stand behind this war. Because Turkey is a NATO member. Without the approval of NATO, Turkey cannot attack South Kurdistan and Rojava like this, it cannot take control of cities and areas, bomb them, cut down forests and depopulate the area. This policy constitutes a huge threat to Iraq and paves the way for the falling apart of the country. Both the Iraqi people and the Arab people need to recognize this. They need to understand the coalition between the Kurds and the Arabs as vital for themselves. If they do this, they will be able to stand against neo-Ottomanism, promote democracy and freedom in their country and protect it.”

Harm of KDP Policy to the Kurdish People

Talking about the damage of the KDP policy to the Kurdish people, Bayik said: “In the past, there used to be a Turkish TV program called `Anadolu´dan Görünüm`. The main aim of this program was to wage special warfare against our people and our movement. By spreading deceiving and wrong news, they wanted to manipulate our people and other peoples. Thus, they waged a very dirty war. Today, KDP media spreads news that is very similar to the news once spread by `Anadolu´dan Görünüm`. The news of the KDP media is completely the same. This clearly shows, that they were trained by Turkey in order to deceive the Kurdish people and the international public. The KDP media is thus waging special warfare. The KDP needs to refrain from this policy. This policy does not serve the interests of the KDP and the Kurdish people. Today, the Kurdish people are faced with historic opportunities. Therefore, by building their national unity, the Kurdish people can achieve freedom. Despite our calls, the KDP works with the Turkish state and serves its policy. With this policy, the KDP has destroyed all its respect among the Kurdish people, the people of the Behdînan area and also within the KDP itself. We don´t say that the KDP needs to definitely support us. Of course, if they do, that would be good. But we simply ask them to not serve the Turkish state and its genocidal policy.”

Recent Murder of Kurdish Patriot Mihemed Zekî Çelebî in Süleymaniye

About the murder of Mihemed Zekî Çelebî, Bayk said: “I would like to respectfully commemorate Mihemed Zekî Çelebî. He was a true patriot. MIT [Turkish secret service] had threatened him. But he made these threats public on TV and thus showed exactly the right attitude. He made the policy of the Turkish state against Kurdish patriots public. By making the threats against himself public, he warned all Kurdish patriots not to fall for the games of the occupier. I would like to express my condolences to his family and friends and also to the Kurdish people. I would also like to greet all Kurdish patriots who refuse to give in to the Turkish state, who choose to stay in Kurdistan, work in Süleymaniye and Behdînan and don´t give in to the blackmailing and threats by the MIT and Parastin [KDP secret service]. This is exactly what a patriotic and revolutionary attitude needs to be like. With these attacks, the Turkish state wants to send the following message: `There is no stability in South Kurdistan. If you insist on your patriotism, you won´t stay alive.` With this message, they want to intimidate the Kurdish patriots and the people of South Kurdistan. Therefore, our patriots from North Kurdistan who have settled down in South Kurdistan need to not take a single step back in the face of this policy of the Turkish state.”