As a member of the Executive Council of the PKK, Murat Karayilan spoke about current developments in a special program on the Dengê Welat radio station. We publish a small excerpt of his interview.

Karayilan said: “Our people in Europe are calling for the PKK to be removed from the “terrorist organisations list” with demonstrations. That is very correct. As long as the US and the EU regard the Kurdish liberation struggle as terrorist, the Turkish state will continue its policy of denial, it will continue to massacre the Kurdish people and use banned weapons. Turkey gets the approval to do this also because the PKK is in the list of terrorist organisations. That is why our struggle has to be carried out on various fronts. Perhaps not all states are absolutely in favour of the Turkish state destroying Kurdistan and carrying out a genocide. However, everyone thinks of their own interests and supports Turkey as a NATO state for the supposed stability of the region. In doing so, they clear the way for Turkey's action, and the Turkish state benefits from this. At the moment it is applying a new concept to try and achieve the destruction of all Kurdish achievements. This is what the current war is based on.”

Karayilan continued: “Turkish state terror has ruled Kurdistan for 96 years. We defend ourselves against this state terror. As a people, we want to protect our natural rights. That's why we fight. Ours is a legitimate resistance. Every people in any other country would do the same if they were occupied like Kurdistan is. Defending oneself is a requirement for existence. But we are called terrorist, although it is we who defend ourselves against state terror. It is a fact that the hegemonic states put us on their terror lists because of their self-interest.”

Karayilan added: “The HPG press center published a month war report a few days ago. The current attacks on Avashîn, Zap and Metîna in South Kurdistan are the continuation of a hostile concept. As part of the same concept, many areas in Xakurke have already been occupied, and the Turkish army has established bases there. Heftanîn has also been occupied. So it is a concept which involves the invasion of South Kurdistan little by little. Now, for the first time, the Turkish state is using weapons such as tanks, grenades, combat bombers, drones and helicopters in such a broad area. The freedom guerrillas of Kurdistan, on the other hand, are fighting with new tactics, and this has caused astonishment and a standstill in the Turkish army. It cannot fully implement its occupation plan. Some places have been occupied, but even there the army does not have complete control. This is a very important and noticeable thing. This is about a state that has all the technical means of modern times in hand and claims that it can occupy any place. This state has now been stopped. The results of the war are important and very interesting in this regard.”

Karayilan underlined that “unfortunately we do not succeed in making ourselves known in the world. There are many shortcomings on this subject. On the other hand, the Turkish state does not make anything public about this war either. Everything is capped. Nothing is communicated to the population, nothing is said even to the soldiers. For example, soldiers die somewhere. Then all soldiers are taken away from there in helicopters and new ones are brought in, but the newcomers do not know that their predecessors died there and what happened there. So the Turkish state is waging a very covert war in which it has great losses. That was also listed in the HPG balance sheet.”

Reminding that the war has been going on for over 36 days, Karayilan added that “some places have not yet been taken. The enemy has been struggling in vain for 36 days in Zendûra, Mervanos and other areas in Avashîn. This represents a new situation in the history of struggle. The Kurdistan's freedom guerrilla with its new tactics is leading the most modern weapon technology into failure. It is endowed with the ideology and way of thinking of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and has determination, courage and will to make sacrifices. That is the most striking result of the current war. The army makes massive use of all technical means on a daily basis and still cannot achieve the desired results. What does that show us? It shows us the strength of man.

Of course, we cannot comment on everything here. The results should be evaluated by independent observers and military experts. If we were to comment, we could be accused of being one-sided. But what is being done by great heroes in the Zagros Mountains, in Avashîn, Zap and Metîna today is really a very important and new thing. The courage and creativity of the young women and men from Kurdistan, including the Arab and Turkish guerrillas among them, can only produce the greatest respect.

Today's results in Avashîn, Zap and Metîna are a continuation of Gare's victory. The Turkish state could not hide Gare and Erdogan had to admit the failure. That was a lesson to the state and from this experience everything is being kept a secret today. Here, too, the results are proving similar to those in Gare, even greater in some areas, but the state is keeping this a secret. As I said, I don't want to go into that much further. There are ongoing statements by the HPG, but observers really should come and see for themselves. Even if it is done from a distance, the results should be seen and assessed.”

Karayilan added: “In today's war, the Kurdish guerrillas use the entire breadth and depth of the area in a creative way with professionalized teams. In this regard, a new era has begun for the guerrillas. This applies not only to us, but to all guerrillas worldwide. New methods are used. The guerrillas also use underground tunnels. This is new to them. With these new methods the technology of the enemy is becoming harmless. This is the second side of this war.

Thirdly, the guerrillas are not only fighting on the ground and underground, but also in the air. The Martyr Delal Air Defense Units play an important role here. The enemy talks a lot about these units. Our people may also be curious, but the Turkish state only asks: 'Who helped, where did they come from?' We don't want to share everything, of course, but I can say the following: Everyone would be amazed at the creative level of the PKK guerrillas in the mountains. 

Let me give you an example: [Defense Minister] Hulusi Akar recently personally enumerated all the weapons we have in our hand. He said, 'You are using the Zagros gun.' And who produced this weapon? It is of Kurdish production and in the mountains of Kurdistan. It is such a powerful weapon that it has caught the attention of government officials. So we don't need any help from states. We can do everything ourselves. Most of the material used by our air units is also made by ourselves, as may become clearer in the future.

In this war, the freedom guerrillas of Kurdistan have once again proven their invincibility, despite the advanced technology of the enemy. That's a fact.”