The KCK has issued a statement commemorating the deaths of Mahir Çayan and his comrades at Kızıldere 43 years ago.

The KCK Executive Council statement commemorated the deaths of Mahir Çayan and his 10 comrades at Kızıldere, pledging to realise their dreams.

The statement said that Leader Apo had led a university boycott in support of the revolutionaries and had spent 7 months in prison, where he had pledged to realise the dreams of Mahir Çayan and his comrades and those of Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan, who were hanged in May 1972.  

“After leaving prison Leader Apo made great efforts to organize the revolutionary movement after the military coup of 12 March, and when a joint struggle proved impossible, organized the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle separately.”

The KCK statement continued, stressing that although the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle was waged separately, Mahir Çayan and his comrades were not forgotten, and that Apo had always stressed the importance of their dreams.

“Today the joint struggle between the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle and the revolutionary struggle in Turkey is being developed in connection with their memory,” the statement said.

“If today left forces in Turkey are embarking on joint struggle with the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, then this is due to Mahir Çayan and his comrades, and all revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives for freedom. The aims and dreams of Mahir Çayan and his comrades will not just be realised in Turkey and in Kurdistan, but in the entire Middle East,” the statement concluded.