Berdan Öztürk, co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and Saliha Aydeniz, co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), continue to pay visits to the villages in Hakkari province and districts within the scope of “We organise against fascism” meetings.

The delegation, accompanied by Sait Dede, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP, co-chairs of HDP Hakkari and Yüksekova district organisations and Peace Mothers Assembly, met people in Bawenis, Sore, Dara and Şişemzina villages of Yüksekova district on Wednesday.

The meetings held in 4 villages of Yüksekova were also participated by the residents of the surrounding villages.

‘Healthy communication requires strong connections’

Speaking here, Berdan Öztürk stated that healthy communication with the people requires strong connections to be built. Expressing that Kurdish people have never given up their lands and language despite all pressures, Öztürk said, “We should strengthen our spirit of unity with our people. The lifetime of the current political power against Kurdish people and their rights, language and willpower diminishes from day to day. The Turkish state has carried out massacres against Kurdish people for centuries. Through the conscienceless and immoral policies implemented in the 1990s, the state forced Kurdish people to feel ashamed to say ‘I am Kurdish’. They have increased such attacks in the last 6 years and adopted a vicious plan to suppress and annihilate the Kurdish people. They planned to accomplish their objectives through these attacks but these mindless people missed out the history of Kurdish people. Our people have faced countless persecutions and massacres throughout history but have never given up their lands and language.”

Noting that they mainly aim to establish the co-existence of all peoples in the Middle East, Öztürk recalled that Abdullah Öcalan, the pioneer theoretician of peoples’ co-existence in the Middle East, has been held under isolation for years. He stressed that there could be no solution other than peace and dialogue and said, “We want all religions, languages and ethnic groups to gather in a common life. We dream of building a common life comprising all identities. We owe all these thoughts to the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, whom the state seeks to restrain through aggravated isolation. Leader Öcalan has frustrated all of the annihilation and assimilation policies that have been implemented against the Kurdish people since the Republic was established. The struggle waged by Öcalan for the Kurdish people’s culture and language, has confronted all kinds of persecutions so far. Abdullah Öcalan, addressing Turkish people, says, ‘Killing neither Turkish nor Kurdish people can accomplish any result’. There is no way to a solution other than peace and dialogue.”

‘Political power strives to extend its lifetime through massacres’

Recalling Deniz Poyraz who was slaughtered in a fascist assault against the HDP Izmir office and the racist massacre against a Kurdish family in Konya, DBP co-chair Saliha Aydeniz said, “As a result of the AKP-MHP bloc’s discourses and policies, 7 of our people were slaughtered in Konya. So far, the political power has strived to extend its lifetime through massacres. They impose an isolation on Abdullah Öcalan and the whole country since the Kurdish issue has not been resolved. The isolation was launched in Imralı 22 years ago and has spread to the whole Middle East, to the peoples of Turkey and prisons. The government escalates the war further through isolation policies. On the other hand, the hunger strike in prisons continues on the 258th day in search of a way out of the atmosphere of crisis and chaos. Intellectuals and writers all over the world, especially in Egypt, America and Arabic countries, who read and recognize the philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan, and who have witnessed the Rojava revolution, demand freedom for Öcalan. The demands of the prisoners on hunger strike are moral and conscientious. This hunger strike is a glimmer of hope for the peoples in Turkey and the Middle East. We should shoulder this burden all together. We cannot leave the whole burden on the shoulders of the hunger strikers in prisons.”