In the third part of this interview, Duran Kalkan, member of the KCK Executive Council spoke about the role of the guerrillas in creating the ground for Abdullah Öcalan to take the initiative.

The first part of the interview can be read here, while the second here.

What is the current situation in Medya Defense Areas? What has the guerrilla resistance contributed to the processes you described?

The primary force driving Devlet Bahceli and other political circles in Turkey to form such a call or idea is the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom. This is certain. At the center, at the foundation and at the vanguard of this struggle is the sacrificial guerrilla war of struggle. Since August 15, 1984, it has been continuing in a heroic line. This struggle continued on the heroic line in 2024, centered on the areas of Zap and Metina. With comrades Asya and Rojger, the guerrillas once again showed everyone, friend and foe alike, that they have the power and capability to hit all kinds of Turkish targets, even in the center of Ankara. In 2024, Turkey added the KDP to the already existing AKP-MHP alliance, and then they added Iraq. They entered northern Iraq with the claim that they would eradicate everything that had something to do with the Kurdish question and the PKK. Tayyip Erdoğan himself said this. Throughout the year, they went everywhere with armored troops, carried out all kinds of attacks with the leadership and support of the Iraqi army and the KDP peshmerga. They said they were “closing the lock”. For four years, this army has not been able to take down even one position. The whole army is attacking with everything. The guerrillas raised their resistance against this in dozens, hundreds of positions.

The war rages not only in the Medya Defense Areas, it is in every area of northern Kurdistan. War is not only in the mountains, but in the plains, in the city, everywhere. At different levels, against different targets, it continues according to their characteristics. Just yesterday, there was some criticism as to why there is no “war on terror”. I think the Minister of Defense replied, saying: “Can’t you see how many bombardments we have carried out? What more are we going to do?” In two days, there were 46 air strikes on the Medya Defense Areas. Not to mention the war on the other side. He asked: “What more can we do?” They can’t launch a ground operation. All their talk about the “closed lock”, that’s all a story. They are stuck in the mountains like in a quagmire. The Kurdish mountains exhaust them, and the guerrillas crush them. Without Iraqi and KDP support, it would sweep them all away in a day. This is the truth of the matter.

The war and the clashes continue. Our central headquarters command and the press reflect the results of it on a daily basis. This is the situation. They are in a very difficult situation. There is nothing they can do. They themselves got stuck in a deadlock. This is the situation of the colonial and genocidal invaders in the Medya Defense Areas.

The guerrillas have a lot of power, and still a lot of potential. The areas are broad. The opportunities to renew and develop itself, to increase the grounds for war, to change the targets, to improve its style and tactics are many. In the coming period, if the war continues, it is necessary to see and expect that all this will further develop. Never to forget, it was the heroic guerrilla resistance in the Medya Defense Areas, particularly surrounding the area of Zap that led to the emergence of this situation and the collapse of the ‘Collapse Plan’. The guerrillas created the ground for Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] to take the initiative. For this reason and on this occasion, I once again salute the guerrillas, congratulate their successes and commemorate all the heroic martyrs with respect and gratitude.

Let's talk about the situation in Syria. The question remains as to how things will continue there. While most eyes are focused on Damascus, there is still an intense war going on in northern Syria, particularly at Tishrin Dam at the moment. The Turkish state has just bombed civilians there again, killing several people. What can you tell us about this war?

We learned from the press that 6 people were martyred, and that 21 were wounded. There are daily attacks against the people there. And there has been great resistance in Tishrin for weeks. Indeed, the peoples of North and East Syria are making history. Under the leadership of the Kurdish people, they are waging an epic struggle, heroic self-defense. They are doing this with great courage and sacrifice, and they will succeed. The way forward for North and East Syria is clear. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is the power that will be a model and be effective in the structuring of the new Syria. Therefore, this struggle, the bloodshed, the courage and sacrifice shown will triumph, yield results, and will not be in vain. I believe that both our people of Rojava and all the peoples of North and East Syria know this much better, I salute and congratulate their heroic resistance and commemorate all the heroic martyrs with respect and gratitude, by commemorating Bave Teyar.

The attack on Afrin attack was a crucial prelude to the attacks against now. The invasion attack on Afrin, that was launched on January 20, 2018, should not be taken lightly. Afrin resisted for two months against the NATO-backed attacks carried out by the Turkish Republic with all its might. It was a heroic resistance of honor. Liberation forces were created, that struggle for Afrins freedom, and their war still continues. I salute this great resistance once again on its 7th anniversary and commemorate the martyrs with respect and gratitude. I salute everyone fighting for the liberation and freedom of Afrin and wish them success. Afrin is a Kurdish city which has a very unique character. It is an area where anything can be done and any courageous sacrifice can be made for its liberation. The struggle for Afrin will never stop.

After Afrin, the Turkish state occupied Gire Spi and Serekaniye. Now it is also trying to occupy further areas, particularly Manbij and Shahba, with its own paramilitary forces and the so-called Syrian National Army. It is in an alliance with HTS. But the main thing is the occupation of the Turkish Republic. There are discussions about how Syria will be restructured, and what will be established after the Assad regime. This discussion is always over the SDF and the situation of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria west of the Euphrates. However, there is an occupying power in Syria. The Turkish state, the AKP government. It is the occupier in Afrin. There are Turkish flags and Turkish schools. It is governed like a district of Turkey. Gire Spi is like that, and they are trying to govern Serekaniye like that. There is an occupation. Those who talk about what Syria will become must first take a stance against the Turkish occupation.

They are constantly launching new attacks. The SNA is an artificially created story. They are all fleeing and scattering. It can be seen on the news. The forces of the SDF, fighters of YPG and YPJ launched a number of attacks, and the gangs and mercenaries of SNA that were targeted were devastated and scattered. Immediately, the Turkish army stepped in. It started to launch non-stop air strikes, with both helicopters and warplanes, then again UCAV’s. It has directed all its technical power there. Supposedly the SNA is fighting. This is just an artificially story, no such army is fighting. The fighting force is the Turkish state.

The Turkish state is attacking Tishrin, Reqqa and Tebqa. It has now passed Rojava Kurdistan and is attacking to occupy Syria. The Turkish state has commanded the fall of the Assad regime. It ensured the fall of the government of a UN member state. Doesn’t this impose a responsibility on Turkey? Of course there is. No one discusses or evaluates this. It is wrong to attribute too much role to Turkey in the fall of the current government in Syria. Rêber Apo called the role of the Turkish state in the conspiracy “guardianship”. In this last collapse of the Baath regime in Syria, the role of the AKP government was that of a jailer. It also wants to take ISIS members. It wants to save them. It wants to use them elsewhere. It has always pursued a blackmail policy based on these gangs or on the refugees. The AKP government has been prolonging its life and surviving with these policies for years. They say that if Erdoğan takes ISIS, he has already revived and mobilized. There are such rumors and it is very much reflected in the press.

Tayyip Erdoğan deceived and motivated his own public opinion as if he had won a victory in Syria. He declared a false victory. But no one is evaluating what the cost of this is for Turkey. That will be seen in the near future. They will see that it is very heavy, that Turkey is paying a very expensive price for Tayyip Erdoğan’s policies. It is both an occupying and an aggressive force. The force called SNA has already failed to do what it was supposed to do. Now they want to do it with the power of the Turkish army and take Tishrin. Why? That is the power plant there. Erdoğan has his eye on economic resources. They either want to seize it or destroy it. They attack all the means of life of society, like wheat granaries, water tanks etc. And they also do not hesitate to massacre civilians. The civilian population is defending themselves valiantly. This is connected to Afrin. They paved the way for the occupation in Afrin. No one raised a voice. On the contrary, they supported it. And now it is massacring so many civilians. It is committing war crimes. Again they are silent. The world says nothing. Supposedly, he will take it and seize economic power. And he will have won a victory. He will have waged war. He will have waged a war and won a victory. The war in Tishrin has reached such a position. It seems that it is an event with much wider political consequences. It is often seen as a conflict in such a narrow area, but the violence of the war is very high, and its political impact is very high. It will probably determine the balance of power in the discussions on the restructuring of Syria.

They already claimed they had taken the Tishrin dam, but it was journalists, it were Nazim Dashtan and Cihan Bilgin, who exposed their lie. Therefore, they murdered them. The murdered them and hoped that no one else dared to speak up. They arrested those who stood up for them. Just recently they arrested six journalists in Turkey because they were defending Nazim Dashtan and Cihan Bilgin, because they were exposing these war policies.

Is there anything else you would like to emphasize in conclusion?

Attacks against the Medya Defense Zones continue, and so do the attacks against the civilian population in North and East Syria, namely at the Tishrin dam. Day by day the Turkish state is committing war crimes. Meanwhile, the forceful appointments of trustees to municipalities and to the Istanbul Bar Association continue. There is no end in sight regarding the waves of arrests. Tayyip Erdoğan used to say: “I come by elections – the will of the people.” The will of the people has been forgotten. He now considers whatever is in his own interest, whatever will be his gain, to be permissible. There is a situation of constant attack. And while they are pushing all this forward, they show that Rêber Apo has taken the initiative and is making efforts to appease.

There does not seem to be any change. One would think that they think we have no idea about politics! On the one hand, they talk about peace and even put pressure on Rêber Apo to quickly become the creator of peace. On the other hand, they escalate the war on all levels. They continue the attacks by developing and spreading them. Is this the way it is? There will be no change? Do they have any credibility in this way? This is why public opinion is skeptical and concerned. In fact, we are propagandizing in order to destroy this anxiety and suspicion. Because we cannot get anywhere by looking with anxiety and suspicion.

Of course, there should always be sensitivity, but the important thing is to struggle, to develop something new through struggle. They say that nothing changes. We need to make this government unable to carry out those attacks through struggle so that we can pave the way for change. This government will not do anything. The struggle will do it, democratic forces will do it. We will pave the way for change by forcing the government. Change is crucial. Turkey has entered a process of change. Change must be based on democratization. The ones who make democratic change are the pioneers. And those who cannot change and democratize will either be destroyed or overcome. In order not to be destroyed or overcome, I call especially on democratic and socialist circles to understand the process correctly, to develop democratic change within their own structures, and to put themselves in a position to pioneer it, and I wish them success.