KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-Presidency released a statement on the 18th anniversary of the 15 February 1999's international conspiracy against Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan that resulted in his captivity by the Turkish state.

KCK condemned all the states and political powers engaged in this conspiracy which -it said- targeted the freedom struggle of the Kurdish people and democratization of Turkey in the person of Öcalan.

Stressing that all the states and political powers engaged in this conspiracy committed a crime against humanity, KCK said these circles will not only be defeated by the struggle of the Kurdish people but they will also pass into history as a community of criminals.

According to KCK, through this conspiracy international powers aimed to annihilate a revolutionary alternative before an intervention on the Middle East, in which they wanted to use Turkey based on a plan that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and the Freedom Movement would be eliminated once Öcalan was disabled.

"However, the unexpected popular support for the Kurdish movement has frustrated this conspiracy, as was stated by the Former Secretary of State for the U.S., Madeleine Albright. The Kurdish people rose up across Kurdistan and everywhere they live in order to support their leader, and they built a barricade around Öcalan through the resistance they developed with the motto "You cannot darken our Sun". Our people who rose up and those who fell martyr in this resistance announced to the world yet on the first day that this conspiracy would not work", said KCK, saluting the Kurdish people that resisted during this process and commemorating all those that fell martyr in the struggle against the conspiracy.

KCK underlined that the Kurdish people became more committed to their leader and the Kurdish Freedom Movement grew stronger after the conspiracy against which they have waged a great struggle for 18 years now.

"While the conspiracy intended to break the influence of Leader Apo and the PKK on the Middle East, Leader Apo's ideological and political course has become the hope of all the peoples in the Middle East today, proving his fastening and anticipation that "Historic conspiracies do not cease but escalate developments" to be true."

KCK emphasised that the best answer to be given in response to this conspiracy was to enhance the struggle and to make Leader Apo's ideas of democracy, freedom and socialism influential in the Middle East.

"Major successes have been achieved during the 18 years of struggle against this conspiracy. Now, we will carry these achievements to victory toward the attainment of a free and democratic life for our people in four parts of Kurdistan and democratization of the Middle East. The struggle for the liberation of the Kurdish people will be waged on the basis of Leader Apo's liberation because of the fact that his liberation will be realized with the liberation of our people. On this basis, the struggle for the liberation of the Leader will come to a head on the 19th year of this conspiracy.

As the conspiracy enters its 19th year, we call upon all our people and allies to take to the streets and enhance the struggle everywhere to support and liberate Leader Apo. The protests staged by our people and internationalist circles in Europe against the conspiracy should be accelerated and expanded no matter which obstacles they may face. In territories that are witnessing intensified attacks like Bakurê (Northern) Kurdistan, every district, every village, every neighborhood and every street must be turned into an area of protests with a strongest commitment to make the spring a period of struggle against the genocidal system. We will definitely make 2017 a year to triumph."