The 12th Congress of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was held from May 5 to 7 in the Medya Defense Areas. Delegates Sorxwîn Avesta and Ibrahim Urfa shared their evaluations of the guerrilla struggle.

Why should those who fought self-sacrificingly surrender?

Sorxwîn Avesta said: "I joined the party after President Öcalan was taken prisoner. Two-thirds of the comrades participating in this congress also joined after his capture. This clearly shows that our participation was a response to his imprisonment and the international conspiracy. Our primary goal is to remove President Öcalan from the Imralı system and ensure his physical freedom. The state cannot ignore this. It cannot satisfy us with a single image, a photograph, or a message. After President Öcalan’s latest statement, they came to all our tunnels and read it aloud. They tried to conduct a psychological and humiliating war. They made calls like ‘Surrender, lay down your arms, the organization has made a decision, you should surrender too.’ But the enemy does not truly understand our reality. It does not know the truth of the PKK and its fighters. Even if we do not have direct contact with our comrades or the organization, we still have a strong sense of what decisions the organization might make, what discussions it might carry out, and what it would ask of us. The same is true for President Öcalan.

I have never lived with President Öcalan, but I know what he would think about us, what he would say, what decisions he would make or reject. The enemy, using dirty methods, walks through our tunnels and calls on our comrades to surrender. Comrade Cemal once said, ‘Why would those who have fought you for years with self-sacrifice surrender now, especially after all the cruelty you’ve inflicted?’ Comrades in the Martyr Yunus Resistance Tunnel had written a letter to Comrades Cemal and Zozan. A section of that letter addressed the enemy directly and was even read to them through the device, because the enemy was constantly calling for surrender. The stance and attitude of the comrades in the tunnels regarding this process are clearly expressed in that message. One group of comrades sent it before Comrades Besê and Mitra fell as martyrs. On this occasion, I would like to read their message aloud at the congress.

This section was written for the enemy: ‘You come every day telling us to surrender. You threaten us with submission and death. You commit war crimes using every tool at your disposal. Our only answer is to insist on resistance against surrender. We are freedom fighters standing against this unjust war, but you are its victims.’ With this message, these comrades clearly expressed their stance against the enemy. And this is not something limited to one tunnel, it is the reality of all our tunnels. Most recently, Comrades Besê and Mitra were martyred in that area. In their memory, and with their example, we will strengthen the struggle and fulfill every responsibility placed upon us in this process, intensifying our resistance against the Turkish state's dirty games."

President Öcalan should not remain in Imralı

Ibrahim Urfa said: "The armed struggle has brought us many gains. If the Turkish state today has been forced to approach President Öcalan, it is thanks to our military strength. Even President Öcalan has said that state officials told him, ‘First we will eliminate the guerrilla forces, then it will be your turn.’ If they have not been able to destroy us and now come to him, it means that plan has failed. The war we are waging is one the state cannot fight. No one could stand against ISIS. For example, they redirected fighters toward Armenia, and they could not even last two months; they surrendered. I do not say this to belittle them, but because it is the reality. Russia is a vast country with a long history, but their style of warfare is suicidal. In two years, they have lost hundreds of thousands. Hezbollah did not take the kind of precautions we did and was dismantled within a few weeks. We are able to wage our struggle with great strength. Some of the technical capabilities we have, even some states do not possess. We have reached this level.

There is no need to distort this process. President Öcalan must be free. We are his self-sacrificing militants. None of our comrades fear death or anything else. As long as President Öcalan remains unfree, we will not take a single step. We are clear on this. Who can stop us? That is why President Öcalan must be free. We are not talking about improved security conditions or working conditions. President Öcalan must be freed. He must not remain in Imralı. They try to justify it by saying they are building a new place on the island, but we do not accept that. Our comrades have seen on television that there are earthquakes in Imralı almost daily. Not just President Öcalan, no one’s life is safe there. President Öcalan should not be in Imralı."