Duran Kalkan, member of the PKK Central Committee, spoke about current issues in an interview broadcast on Medya Haber TV. The focus was on the internationally-conducted extermination campaign against the Kurdish liberation movement, the Shengal Agreement and the offensive against the fascistTurkish regime proclaimed by the KCK.

Kalkan first referred to the international plot that led to the abduction of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and said: “The same alliance is attacking in the same way now. Even today there is an annihilation attack by the USA, Turkey and the KDP on our people and our movement in all parts of Kurdistan, in Turkey, abroad, everywhere."

Fight like Bêrîtan

In view of this aggression, the form of resistance is gaining in importance, explained Kalkan, referring to the example of guerrilla commander Bêrîtan, who fell as a martyr in 1992 in South Kurdistan and who refused to surrender and betray during the war against the KDP. She fought to the last bullet, then destroyed her weapon and jumped off a cliff to her death so as not to be captured.

"When young people, women, workers and other people ask what needs to be done and how they should fight, then I say: Resist like Bêrîtan," said Duran Kalkan. The guerrilla commander had shown how a liberal-patriotic stance against attacks by fascists, genocides, collaborators and traitors and imperialist interventions in Kurdistan should be. “That still applies today and is the essential basis of our offensive against isolation, occupation and fascism. Like Bêrîtan, we will resist and win."

The US and Shengal

Regarding the agreement reached on the heads of the Yazidi population between the governments of Iraq and the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan on the future of Shengal, Duran Kalkan said: “The forces who fled during the Islamic State attack want to recapture the region. The KDP wants that. There is no other explanation. The US government wanted it that way, nobody can deny it."

The US is continuing its interventions in the region and Shengal will show who these interventions benefit and who they harm, Kalkan said, adding: “According to its own goals, the US wants the governments of Iraq, Turkey and South Kurdistan to come to an agreement and fight against the PKK. Their target has been clearly stated. It's the PKK. ‘The PKK is attacking the free Kurds and the democratic autonomy of the Yazidi-Kurdish community in Shengal’, this is what Turkey repeats. The agreement came about at the request of the US and at the pressure put by Turkey."

Death penalty against Kurds in Hewlêr

Duran Kalkan said that the Turkish state is hostile to Kurds and this can be seen in the centuries of murderous practice, but how the KDP got to this point raises the question of its Kurdish identity: “Two young Kurds from the north are said to be executed for having shot a leading MIT official in Hewlêr. This topic triggers most of the discussion. How come? Our executive has issued a declaration: There is no connection with the PKK, we don't know anything about it. I still don't know more than what was reported in the media. Ultimately, an MIT agent was shot and it was not just any person but someone who carried out attacks in South Kurdistan. Recently Nerchirvan Barzani visited Ankara. He is said to have talked to Tayyip Erdogan in secret for an hour. What did they talk about? If this execution is carried out now, it would lead to say that Nerchivan Barzani does what Erdogan asked him to do. The Kurdish people will take it that way.

The Iraqi government should never join Turkey's anti-Kurdish stance, or else it would make a mistake of historical significance that will fall back on itself, Kalkan warned.

“It has nothing to do with law and justice. Anyone who speaks of justice should explain the innumerable attacks that the Turkish state has carried out since 2007 with ground troops and from the air on South Kurdistan. And that’s because we don't even want to talk about the time before 2000. The KDP claims that it rules South Kurdistan. Well, then, what did the KDP do about these attacks? Did it go to court; did it resist them? Did it file a lawsuit when the civilian population and the Kurdish liberation guerrillas were killed with cruel weapons in Şîladizê, Bradost, Amêdî, Heftanîn and Zaxo? Were the murderers brought to justice?"

Offensive for freedom: creativity, continuity and an opening to the outside world

Duran Kalkan also commented on the Campaign “End of Isolation, Occupation and Fascism, Time for Freedom” launched in September by the Kurdistan Society (KCK).

Kalkan assessed the beginning of the Campaign, which was being carried out in all parts of Kurdistan and around the world, with specific priorities in each case, as positive. The perspective presented by the KCK had been expanded by the women's movement and the “United Peoples’ Revolutionary Movement” (HBDH) with their own content. “It was a good start. Now it's about further developing the Campaign, spreading it and continuing with new fighting methods,” said Duran Kalkan.

The current times require “creativity, continuity and an opening to the outside world with a variety of methods”, explained Kalkan. When planning activities, emphasis must be placed on the external impact: “We have to be creative in order to achieve results. Many circles can be set in motion. For example, the local society should be addressed abroad. The mobilization should not take place in a narrow framework, but must reach all sections of society through intellectuals and politicians up to the state level.”

This is the way to destroy fascism

Kalkan emphasized that the guerrillas have a leading role in the Campaign: "We are fighting against a fascist, colonialist and murderous way of thinking and making politics. Guerrillas must defend themselves against fascist aggression on the basis of self-defense. The fascist mobs lynch and kill at every opportunity, but patriotic, revolutionary and democratic people have to organize. You have to defend yourself. You must retaliate and hold these people accountable. Nobody should say that this is none of their business. Everyone has to take part in the struggle, this struggle concern everyone. The youth in particular must see it as their own struggle. We can only crush fascism with a revolutionary people's war. Only in this way can our freedom campaign lead to victory."