Following Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s ‘Call for Peace and a Democratic Society’ announced on February 27, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) held an extraordinary congress between May 5 and 7 and decided to dissolve the PKK's organizational structure and end the armed struggle and activities carried out under the name of the PKK.

One of the delegates to the historic congress was Nedim Seven, who started his speech by greeting Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the PKK Freedom Movement, and commemorated the Kurdistan Freedom Martyrs in the persons of Ali Haydar Kaytan and Rıza Altun, who were among the first to join Öcalan. Seven stated, “We will continue to walk in the path of the freedom martyrs until we achieve a democratic and socialist country and society, remaining faithful to the hopes and goals of the martyrs.”

Seven continued: "As our fellow delegates express their feelings, they say, ‘We are facing a historic duty.’ The labor built under the leadership of the PKK is sacred. It must be handed over to history based on the decisions of the congress with all its values. This is the labor of the martyrs, the labor of comradeship culture, the labor of societal construction, the labor of the philosophy of freedom and democracy. It is the labor of women's freedom and the leadership of society. If we do not hand over this labor and these creations to history through the congress decision, we will be to blame before history.

As a militant of Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) and a long-time member of this revolution, I participated wholeheartedly and consciously. Our voluntarism was based on the search for socialism. Although there was no socialist culture in the environment in which we grew up and lived, socialist movements, especially the Apoist Movement, responded to our search for socialism. As Leader Apo has also stated, and as is recorded in the Party's history: Kurdistan exists, the nation exists, values exist. All of these were the right things to do at that time. It was the task of that period to engrave both the nation, Kurdistan, and freedom and democracy in Kurdistan. We must follow not only strategically but also tactically, according to the politics of world revolutions or the changing and evolving current politics. Of course, Leader Apo identified all of this. There is no need to repeat this, but I would like to emphasize that the values created by the PKK should not only be enshrined in novels but also in the future of humanity. Nationalism, patriotism, socialism, freedom, and especially women's leadership must be handed over to history. What we have learned from the PKK struggle is this: resistance and betrayal. I want to define this myself. These things will continue to happen in the future. We may not have been able to bring about change and transformation profoundly in time, but we have not strayed from our values and goals.

At this congress, the PKK completed its mission, dissolved itself, but is handing over its historical mission to the history of humanity. That is why Leader Apo says, “Insistence on humanity is insistence on socialism.” That is how we understand it.

In my opinion, the main agenda of our congress is a single item: to wholeheartedly and completely implement the strategic decisions of Leader Apo. We will spread Apoist culture without hesitation not only in Kurdistan, but also in the Middle East and throughout the world. Our tasks are more comprehensive and greater. In the face of these tasks, it is important for us to renew, transform, and educate ourselves. I believe that the leader's socialism has secured a 100-year future. I am also responsible for all the shortcomings and mistakes of the administration. I am ready to carry out all the changes and transformations in myself based on criticism and self-criticism regarding style, tone, pace, habits, and misunderstandings for the future. Once again, I greet the 12th Congress of the PKK and extend my respect and greetings to all comrades.”