"Our guerrillas and our people will equip themselves with the consciousness of the martyrs and will put up a resistance that will smash fascism, break the isolation and end the occupation," said the PKK on the occasion of the Month of the Martyrs.
In the Kurdish liberation movement, May is considered the month of the martyrs. At its founding party congress in the village of Fis in Amed (Diyarbakir) on November 27, 1978, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) proclaimed May "The Martyrs’ Month" and May 18 " Martyrs’ Day" because many cadres of the early days as well as leading revolutionaries of the leftist movements in Turkey lost their lives in a May. The PKK Executive Committee has issued a statement commemorating Mehmet Karasungur and Ibrahim Bilgin on this occasion. The two Kurdish revolutionaries were killed in southern Kurdistan on May 2, 1983.
"Today, May 2, is the day when Mehmet Karasungur, one of the co-founders of our party, member of the first Central Committee and immortal commander of Hilvan and Siverek resistance, and the valuable militant Ibrahim Bilgin died in Qandil. On the 38th anniversary of their deaths, we remember them with respect, love and longing. We fought for 38 years under the command of Mehmet Karasungur and we continue this liberation struggle today in Metina, Zap, Avashin, Heftanin, Xakurke and everywhere in Kurdistan. Today we can give our great commander Mehmet Karasungur the happy news that his flag of freedom and his weapon have not fallen to the ground and are being carried by the guerrillas with a sure hand," wrote the PKK, recalling other May Day martyrs such as Haki Karer, Hozan Mizgîn, revolutionary Shirin Alamhouli executed in Iran on 9. May 2010 and her four companions, the victims of May 1, 1977 in Istanbul and revolutionaries Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin Inan, who were executed on May 6, 1972 in Ankara.
Offensive resistance: Time for freedom
This year's May is under the sign of the campaign "Time for Freedom", which aims to enforce the release of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK said: "We are in an offensive resistance, in which our brave guerrillas are dealing devastating blows to the fascist enemy in Metina, Zap and Avashin on a daily basis. As guerrillas and people, we are fighting in the line of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and in the footsteps of our heroic martyrs. The command of this fight is led by our army of the martyrs. We are fighting under the command of our immortal commanders Karasungur and Mizgin and are proud that we have never deviated from this path.
It is clearly evident that this line has made us invincible as a movement and a people for 44 years and has led to great developments. There is no question that in the 45th year we will continue our march on this basis and achieve great victories. The fascist and genocidal enemy can do whatever it wants, it will not save it from suffering defeat and ending up in the dustbin of history in the face of the guerrilla-led revolutionary resistance of our patriotic people and our democratic friends. Starting with the Zap region and the Zagros Mountains, the occupiers will be driven out of all of Kurdistan. The war in the Zap and Zagros is the essence of all wars. This is where the key issue will be resolved, the occupation will be broken and the beginning of lasting freedom will take place.
The selfless youth of Kurdistan will pour into the ranks of the resistance on all fronts and, just as in the mountains, mobilize in the plains and cities to deal deadly blows to the fascist enemy. The brave Kurdish women will lead the anti-fascist resistance on all fronts. They will succeed in winning this essential war. Our guerrillas and our people will equip themselves with the spirit, the consciousness and the willpower of the martyrs and they will put up a resistance that will smash fascism, break the isolation and end the occupation. They will win no matter what. As a movement and a people, we will be even closer to the martyrs this month. We will understand them even better and realize their dreams even more correctly and successfully. For this, we will do all kinds of activities and struggles. We will learn from the martyrs and how they live and fight. In this sense, we remember once again with respect and gratitude all the martyrs of the liberation struggle, from our first great martyr Haki Karer to Sinan Dersim and the martyrs of the Metina and Zagros resistance. We hereby declare that under all circumstances we will fulfill their longing for a free life with Rêber Apo in a free Kurdistan."
