99 years ago, Kurdish cleric Şêx Seîdê Pîran and 47 companions who led an uprising against the violent policies of the Turkish Republic were publicly hanged. Their burial place is kept secret until today.

The rebellion started under the leadership of the Kurdish-Sunni clergyman Şêx Seîdê Pîran (Sheikh Said) on 13 February 1925 in the village of Pîran in Eğil district of Amed (Diyarbakir) paved the way for numerous Kurdish rebellions after the end of World War I, which followed the process of the Turkish nation-state formation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and were directed against the denial of the Kurdish existence, the entry of political autonomy and the fascist policy of Turkification. Besides Amed, the uprising also included the regions of Elazığ and Bingöl, and in the further course of the uprising, expanded to almost the entire area populated by Kurds in present-day Turkey.

A few weeks later, on 26 March 1925, Turkish military units began air and ground attacks on suspected retreat sites of Kurdish insurgents, after 25,000 soldiers had initially been transferred to the region. At the beginning of April, the number of troops reached about 52,000. The insurgency was crushed in blood. At least 15,000 people were killed. At the end of April, Şêx Seîd and a large number of his comrades-in-arms were captured in Muş. A brother-in-law of the cleric who had served as an officer in the Ottoman Empire had betrayed them. After their transfer to Amed, Şêx Seîd and 47 of his companions were sentenced to death on June 28, 1925. The public execution followed one day later. Their burial place is kept secret until today.

The Co-Presidency of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council released a statement paying tribute to Sheikh Said and his companions on the occasion of the anniversary of their execution by the Turkish state. Commemorating Sheikh Said and his companions with respect, KCK paid tribute to all the martyrs of Kurdistan with gratitude, saying: “The right way to honor the memory of Sheikh Said is to continue and succeed in this struggle.”

The KCK statement released on Friday includes the following:

“As soon as the Turkish Republic was established, the existence of the Kurdish people was denied, the promises made to the Kurdish people were forgotten, and the Kurdish people were unlawfully deprived of their democratic national rights. The Kurdish people objected to this denial and lawlessness imposed on them. Sheikh Said and his friends led this rebellion of the Kurdish people and fought against denial and injustice. The struggle developed by Sheikh Said is legitimate and democratic and has a significant place in the history of Kurdistan. It expresses the attitude and struggle of the Kurdish people against denial, extermination and genocide. This is important because it not only reveals the Kurdish people’s resistance in order to achieve freedom, but also the character of the Turkish state and its approach to the Kurdish people. The formation of the mentality and politics based on the Kurdish genocide began with the suppression of the Sheikh Said resistance and the execution of its leaders, and this process has continued until today.

The state has always resorted to the suppressing of Kurdish rebellions through massacres and executions; and today, it started a new genocide in Kurdistan. After the establishment of the Republic and the Sheikh Said resistance, a process of massacres began in Kurdistan and spread across the country, especially in Agiri (tr. Agri), Dersim (tr. Tunceli) and Zilan. That is why Rêber Apo [Leader Abdullah Öcalan] refers to the date of the Sheikh Said execution as the date when the Kurdish genocide began. The first genocide laws and mechanisms were formed and put into effect during this period. These were later formalized within the so-called Eastern Reform Plan. The Eastern Reform Plan is the only true and unchanging constitution of the Turkish state. All other laws and mechanisms enacted afterwards exist on the basis of serving the realization of the Eastern Reform Plan, that is, the Kurdish genocide. The only working law in Turkey is the Kurdish genocide law.

Unfortunately, although a century has passed, the Turkish state has not changed its genocidal colonialist mentality. Those who ruled the state always maintained this genocidal colonialist policy. Today, this genocidal colonialist policy is represented and carried out by the fascist AKP-MHP government. As a matter of fact, as the AKP-MHP government is entering the second century of the founding of the republic, it stated that it would end the Kurdish freedom movement and eliminate the Kurdish existence by finalizing the Kurdish genocide. For this purpose, it resorted to the most comprehensive attacks, occupation and massacres. The total isolation of Rêber Apo, the attacks against the people and the freedom movement, the invasion attacks against Rojava, the usurpation of the will of the people through trustee policies and special war practices have been for this purpose.

Nevertheless, the Kurdish people portrayed the most comprehensive resistance in their history against the AKP-MHP fascism and prevented this genocide from being conducted. With this attitude, the Kurdish people have avenged and continue to avenge Sheikh Said, Seyit Riza [Kurdish tribal leader who led a general uprising in Dersim against Turkish occupation. The rebellion failed and the Turkish state subsequently carried out the Dersim massacre in 1937/38. Seyit Riza was hanged along with his companions on November 15, 1937, in Elazig], and Qazi Muhammad. [A Kurdish revolutionary, co-founder of the Republic of Mahabad and its president. When the Republic of Mahabad was crushed by the Iranian army on December 17, 1946, Qazi Muhammad decided not to flee. He was arrested, sentenced to death on January 23, 1947, and executed on March 31, 1947]. Undoubtedly, the AKP-MHP government has not given up its goal of genocide, but it has failed, exposed and become unable to stand in the face of the total resistance and struggle of the people of Kurdistan.

Our people, our society, workers, laborers, women and all democratic, socialist and libertarian forces can put an end to this occupying, genocidal, trustee appointing, usurping AKP-MHP regime and pave the way for a free Kurdistan and democratic Turkey by waging a common and united struggle. The right way to honor the memory of Sheikh Said is to continue and succeed in this struggle.

On this basis, while once again commemorating Sheikh Said and his companions, we call on everyone, especially our people, to increase the struggle against the trustee-appointing, genocidal, and racist AKP-MHP government.”