Two years ago, Kasim Engin (Ismail Nazlikul) was killed in a Turkish attack on the Bradost area in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). Commemorating Engin, the Executive Committee of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) released a statement on Friday, which includes the following:

"On May 27, 2020, PKK Central Committee member Kasim Engin fell in an AKP/MHP fascist attack. On the occasion of the second anniversary of his death, we commemorate him with respect, love and gratitude and repeat our word to let the memory of him live on through the realization of his goals. We vow as the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and Kurdish people to resist in the footsteps of Kasim Engin and all our heroic martyrs and to achieve new victories.

"One of our May Martyrs"

It is clear that Kasim Engin is one of the great May Martyrs. The march of the martyrs, which started on May 18, 1977 with the assassination of our comrade Haki Karer in Antep, continues today in Zap, Avaşîn and all other parts of Kurdistan and abroad in the footsteps of the martyrs. On this occasion, we salute the historical resistance of our brave guerrillas and people under the leadership of the martyrs and remember all the martyrs of this struggle with respect and gratitude.

"He carried out revolutionary works in every field"

As it is known, our comrade Kasim Engin came from Pazarcık, a place in the west of Kurdistan that the Turkish state had tried to subject to genocide early on. He grew up in Europe and was a dedicated, hardworking and productive person. At a very young age, he learned about the Kurdish freedom struggle and was active in all areas of revolutionary work in Europe. When he deeply understood the reality of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and the PKK, he wiped away the glittering life in Europe for himself, returned to Kurdistan and joined the guerrillas. The deep Kurdish patriotism in his mind and feelings, the courage that defined his personality, his willingness to sacrifice and his desire for freedom infected him early with the reality of the PKK and the guerrillas.

"He became a leader of the Kurdish people"

Kasim Engin participated in the guerrilla warfare on the Amanos front and in Botan as well as in southern Kurdistan after being trained twice by Rêber Apo. He took on all kinds of tasks and responsibilities within the guerrillas with a sense of responsibility and success. He also worked in the field of propaganda and agitation as well as in all other fields of revolutionary needs. He was active wherever party work was needed, and for a long time coordinated the propaganda and agitation work of our party. With his sharp mind, his inexhaustible energy, his productive, active nature, he was able to carry out much of this work quickly and with success. With his enthusiastic, positive personality, his passion, the importance he attached to the Kurdish language and culture, his willingness to sacrifice and his sensitive and measured attitude, he became a lasting example to his comrades and won a place of honor in their hearts. Thus, he became a comrade of Rêber Apo and a leader of the Kurdish people.

"Our party preserves his memory"

Just as our party and people have preserved the memory of their martyrs and their great struggle, they also keep the memory of their companion Kasim Engin in the struggle of the last two years. He lives on in the struggle for freedom. As it is known, our biggest and most significant battles took place in 2020 and 2021. With the support of NATO and KDP, the AKP/MHP fascism carried out an organized occupation attack every year in order to crush the guerrillas, liquidate the PKK and complete the genocide of the Kurds. As a movement and as a people, as guerrilla forces, as a women's and youth movement, we have led a comprehensive resistance against this aggression in the last years on the basis of a strategy of revolutionary people's war. With this resistance, which we carried out under the leadership of the martyrs, we succeeded in breaking the invasion attacks. The deadly blow that our brave guerrilla forces dealt to the occupiers in Gare, Heftanîn, Xakurke, Metîna, Zap and Avaşîn foiled all the plans of AKP/MHP fascism and brought fascism to the brink of collapse.

"The guerrillas will bury AKP/MHP fascism in Avaşîn and Zap"

Now, as we enter the third year after the death of Comrade Kasım Engin, we mobilize as a movement and people for resistance on the line of the comprehensive revolutionary people's war under the leadership of the struggle in Zap and Avaşîn. Our brave guerrillas are hitting hard and burying AKP/MHP fascism in Zap and Avaşîn. The war spreads to all areas of Kurdistan and Turkey and the brave Kurdish youth mobilizes constantly and everywhere against AKP/MHP fascism. In all four parts of Kurdistan and abroad, our people and their democratic friends are protesting against the AKP/MHP dictatorship every day. Our campaign 'Time for Freedom' for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo is progressing. The collapse of AKP/MHP fascism and our victory in the fiftieth year of struggle cannot be prevented by the use of chemical weapons nor by the support of NATO and KDP.

It is clear that no matter how aggressive AKP/MHP fascism is, no matter how many war crimes it commits, it will never succeed in the face of our guerrillas and the people's resistance. The support of the USA, NATO and KDP, fascist oppression, terror and blackmail will not be able to save AKP/MHP fascism. Our people and our guerrillas will bury it. On this basis, our fiftieth year will be the year of the biggest victory in the history of our struggle.

"We stand up for Kasim Engin with our struggle"

With this struggle, we stand up for Kasim Engin and all our other martyrs and let their memory live on in the struggle. In this sense, in the person of Kasim Engin, we also remember all other of our brave martyrs with respect and gratitude. We call upon our party and our guerrilla forces, our people and their friends, the youth and the women to extend the struggle for the crushing of the isolation on Imrali and AKP/MHP fascism in every field."