The Co-Presidency of the KCK Executive Council issued a statement about the 25th anniversary of the international conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan.

The statement said: "25 years have passed since the international conspiracy against Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] was started on 9 October.

We once again condemn this international conspiracy with great hatred and violence, which was carried out as a step of the plan of genocide against the Kurds, and we once again condemn all the forces involved in this conspiracy. At the same time, we respectfully remember all the martyrs of revolution and democracy in the person of the martyrs who, under the leadership of comrade Halit Oral and comrade Aynur Artan, showed one of the greatest and most honorable stances in the history of humanity.

Under the slogan ‘You cannot darken our sun’, they formed a circle of fire around Rêber Apo and against the international conspiracy. The great struggle and the memory of the martyrs are the torch that illuminates our path. We walk and advance on this path that they illuminate. On this occasion, we would like to reiterate our promise of struggle and success to the martyrs."

The statement added: "As the Kurdish people and as the Kurdish Freedom Movement, we have been walking on the path developed by the martyrs that struggled against the international conspiracy for 25 years. The people of Kurdistan quickly realized that the international conspiracy against Rêber Apo was through him against them, and from the beginning to the present day, they have taken a strong stance against the international conspiracy and defended Rêber Apo. Today, this attitude and defense of the Kurdish people has spread to all corners of the world and has become supported by all the different peoples, women, young people and all the oppressed.

As the Kurdish Freedom Movement, while condemning the conspiracy and the conspiratorial forces once again, we would like to congratulate the patriotic people of Kurdistan, who have been in an uninterrupted struggle against the conspiracy for 25 years, who have made it the main goal to frustrate the conspiracy and who have demonstrated a stance of loyalty to Rêber Apo. We would like to express our gratitude and greetings to all the people, women, young people, international friends and all democratic forces in the Middle East and around the world who have taken a stand against the conspiracy in solidarity with the people of Kurdistan and who have shown the supreme virtue of comradeship and humanity by defending Rêber Apo."

The statement added: "In order to completely frustrate the international conspiracy against the Kurdish people in the person of Rêber Apo, it is necessary to make the reality of the conspiracy more conscious and to understand the reasons for which such a conspiracy was organized. Because many powers, especially the USA and Israel, took part in the conspiracy. Not only did they take part in the conspiracy, they planned and executed it. Thus, the conspiracy was international in scope and had consequences at this level.

Undoubtedly, the October 9th process was reached as a result of the impositions of the Turkish state. Under the influence of an instinctive anti-Kurdish mentality, the Turkish state acted with the motive of suppressing the Kurdish people’s developing freedom struggle and bringing the Kurdish genocide to a conclusion. In order for this to happen, then as now, it imposed on everyone to support its policies of Kurdish genocide and made concessions in return.

Many forces supported the actions targeting the Kurds and Rêber Apo in order to benefit from this attitude of the Turkish state. As it is known, during that period, the Turkish state took the attitude of turning towards Syria. Of course, the Turkish state displayed this attitude based on the support it received from the USA and Israel, and threatened war against Syria. Since Rêber Apo knew that such a war was aimed at realizing the plans of the forces of capitalist modernity for the Middle East, he decided to leave Syria in order to prevent the development of such a process and left Syria on 9 October 1998."

The statement said: "When Rêber Apo decided to leave Syria, he was also aiming to move the solution of the so-called ‘Kurdish question’ to a political ground and for this purpose he thought it appropriate to go to Europe. Rêber Apo thought that such a work could be carried out in Europe and that there would be support for the democratic political solution of the ‘Kurdish question’. But instead the international conspiracy was put into action and the development of a solution process was prevented.

The main forces that planned and carried out the international conspiracy were the USA and Israel. Since the ideas developed by Rêber Apo posed an obstacle to the plans of the USA over the Kurds and was against the Middle East order based on the security of the Israeli state, the USA and Israel made such a plan and carried out this plan through NATO."

The KCK continued: "As is known, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar world system, the world has become unmanageable with the old balances. As a result, the US, on behalf of capitalist modernity, made plans called the ‘New World Order’ in order to reshape the world and the Middle East according to the changing conditions. Within the scope of this plan, the process of intervention in the Middle East was initiated. This process, which started with the intervention in Iraq, was also the beginning of the Third World War. With this intervention, the USA aimed, on the one hand, to change the regimes that it had used before, but which no longer benefited it with the changing process, and on the other hand, to prevent the development of an exit in favor of the peoples in the Middle East. Since the political philosophy developed by Rêber Apo is based on the freedom of the peoples, the US has seen the development of this philosophy as an obstacle to its policies and has taken an attitude towards Rêber Apo within this approach. From the very beginning, the US has seen the developments led by the PKK and Rêber Apo in Kurdistan and the Middle East as dangerous for its interests and has given all kinds of support to the Kurdish genocide policies of the Turkish state by effectively putting NATO into action."

The KCK continued: "Another reason why the US planned the international conspiracy was to prevent Kurdishness developing based on free will and to develop a Kurdishness based on collaborationism. Because the US approach to the Kurds has been to instrumentalize the Kurds as part of its plans for the Middle East. The approach of all statist powers to the Kurds has been within this framework. These powers have never recognized and supported the Kurdish people’s struggle for existence, but on the contrary, they have been in the form of benefiting from this people struggling for existence for their dirty ambitions and supporting the genocide policies of the Turkish state. In fact, the main reason for the emergence of the ‘Kurdish question’ and the Kurdish genocide has been the policies of capitalist modernity towards the Middle East. The Treaty of Lausanne, which divided Kurdistan and also started the Kurdish genocide, was signed and supported by international powers. With this treaty, the forces of capitalist modernity gave their approval to the policies of the Turkish state regarding the Kurdish genocide. This approach of the forces of capitalist modernity has not changed and continues today. It is necessary to understand the international conspiracy as a result of this approach.

In addition to the United States and Israel, major European states were actively involved in the conspiracy. Many non-European states and powers also took part in the conspiracy. In the intervening 25 years, there has been almost no change in the position of the powers involved in the conspiracy. Today, as it has been before, the AKP-MHP government’s Kurdish genocide policies are supported. The absolute isolation of Rêber Apo is also being developed as part of this. Therefore, the conspiratorial forces continue their approach. This shows that the conspiracy is intended to be continued and finalized by deepening it."

The statement said: "Although the international conspiracy was undoubtedly aimed at the genocide of the Kurds, the Kurdish people’s consciousness of freedom has developed even more with their struggle against the conspiracy. The Kurdish people brought the conspiracy to consciousness and took their struggle for freedom to the next level. In all four parts of Kurdistan, Şengal [Sinjar], the line of freedom has further developed and deepened. With the revolution of Rojava, the Middle East and the world have been affected and a great sympathy has developed for the struggle of the Kurdish people. On the other hand, today there is great support for the struggle against the conspiracy all over the world. Women all over the world are coming together around the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” and are marching towards freedom. It can easily be said that the struggle of the Kurdish people has gained a universal character. All these developments are the result of the struggle against the conspiracy.

The Kurdish people and their friends have created results contrary to the expectations of the conspiratorial forces by revealing these developments. What needs to be done from now on is to break the absolute isolation imposed in Imrali with a stronger attitude, reaction and action and to end the international conspiracy by realizing the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. We see this will and attitude developing in the Kurdish people and their international friends. We definitely have to put forward this will and to end the international conspiracy. With the struggle put forward so far, the conspiracy has been prevented from reaching its goals, and it has been proven that great developments have been created as a result of the struggle against the conspiracy. On this basis, we call on all the patriotic people of Kurdistan, the patriotic Kurdistan youth, the peoples of the Middle East and the world, women, democratic forces, international friends, workers, laborers, peasants and all oppressed groups to further increase the struggle against the international conspiracy and to continue this attitude until results are achieved."