Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Central Committee Member Rengin Botan assessed for the ANF the recent demonstrations held in Eastern Kurdistan following the murder of two kolbers (border porters) by the Iranian regime.

Botan stated that no act ordering the massacre of Kurdistan's people will ever remain unanswered and said: "No other people have been put through this much massacres as the Kurdish people. They wanted to turn the havenly Kurdistan into a realm of the dead. By keeping the Kurds afar from their own soil, it was intended to alienate the Kurdish people from each other, to push their language and culture into oblivion and to discipline the people through starvation. The Kurdish people are struggling against those inhumane practices to gain a freer live, become their own master and defend their existence. And they will definitely succeed by stepping up the freedom struggle more than ever."

"TIME HAS COME TO CALL A HALT TO THE IRANIAN REGIME"

Botan drew attention to the uprising of the Kurdish people in Rojhilat (East Kurdistan) and stressed that this voice of resistance was calling for putting a halt to the Iranian regime. She continued: "The problem extends beyond the issue of the kolbers and is more a political, cultural, economic and a free existence problem that spans all rights."

"THE POLICY AGAINST THE KURDS MUST CHANGE"

Rengîn Botan stated that Iran needed to change its policies that lead to injustices and inequalities, saying; "The Islamic state of Iran needs to realise now, that it has no other option than to end these practices and policies of oppression and persecution. The people are standing up against all kinds of injustices and damages inflicted on the society by the mentality and policy of the Iranian state. The Iranian state can free itself from all these problems by undergoing fundamental change. Significant herein is an immediate end of its oppressive policies and to introduce a radical change by acknowledging all the rights and identities that society offers. Otherwise, Iran will sooner or later experience the same fate as all dictatorial regimes have."

"THE KURDISH PEOPLE ARE NOT ALONE"

Botan stated that the Kurdish people were no longer uneducated, ignorant and a people that yields to the forceful imposition of slavery and said: "They have become a people with an inherent conscience of freedom, will, power, self-organisation and the desire to struggle. Time has come that all colonial states see this truth. Everyone needs to know well that our people will never accept the attacks that have been and will be carried out against them. Our people in Rojhilat have the power to defend themselves. No colonial state and government will ever be able to prevent this people from defending their rights."

"NO WAY BACK FROM THE STRUGGLE"

PKK Central Committee Member Rengîn Botan stated that it was the most natural and legitimate right of the Kurdish people to raise their voice against the policy of this regime, which is killing its own citizens and added: "Our people need to continue this struggle until victory is achieved. Our people need to stay on the streets and continue to protest, until the state officials responsible for the killing of two of our people are prosecuted and punished and the citizens who have been detained during the demonstrations and unjustifiably arrested are freed. Until these conditions are met, our people should voice their legitimate demands on the streets and engage in all kinds of democratic actions."

"UPRISING SHOULD SPILL OVER TO ALL CITIES"

Botan stated that the Kurdish people should hold to each other and hold their grounds more than ever, saying: "Our people in Rojhilat should become part of this struggle wherever they are. The cities of Banê, Merivan, Sinê, Kirmanshah, Mahabad and Bokan must not be left alone in this resistance. The people should join the uprising in all cities, from Urmiya, Maku, Salmas, Khorasan to Tehran. It is important that our people resist and voice their democratic demands on the one side, and enhance their self-defence on the other side. This honourable resistance of our Rojhilati people needs to be championed by all the people of Kurdistan, who need to enhance the spirit of Kurdish national unity in that process."

PKK Central Committee Member Rengîn Botan pointed out the resisting spirit inherent in the Kurdish women and called on them to play leading roles in those uprisings.