YPG International released a statement saluting Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s 69th birthday and the Resistance of the Age in Afrin.

Full text of the statement by YPG International is as follows;

“We first of all congratulate and salute Serok Apo’s 69th birthday. We would like to let everyone know that April 4th of 1949 is the birth of liberated Kurdishness and of liberated Kurdistan, the Middle East and beyond. It is the birth of a new civilization and of the liberation of women. It is the death knell for colonialism, imperialism, and capitalist modernity. As Serok Apo’s comrades and militants, we renew our vow to honor his noble resistance against the International Conspiracy of 15thFebruary of 1999 and against cowardly and contemptible isolationist policies of fascist Turkish state. We will honor it with our blood, with our lives, by devoting everything we have to avenge our comrades, and by victory.

Resistance of the Age in Afrin goes on with all its intensity. Guerrillas of YPG and YPJ hit the enemy every day and they will continue to do so. Apparently, fascist Turkish state and its despicable thugs gathered from ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra etc. swallowed up Afrin. However, appearances are mostly illusive and elusive. What they swallowed up actually was broken pieces of glass. The enemy is bleeding inside and will bleed to death. So we would like to remind a simple truth to members of the fascist Turkish army and of the intelligence service, to fanatic thugs, and to traitors who betrayed their own people and collaborated with the enemy: You are dead men! The fire of retaliation burns bright and makes us stronger. Resonances of this fire are being felt everywhere in the world. A spectre is haunting the world—the spectre of Apoist revolutionary retaliation.

Agents and collaborators of the enemy anticipate a blow with trepidation since YPG International called for using our legitimate right to retaliation everywhere in the world. But where does this legitimacy come from? It first comes from the history of Kurdistan Liberation Movement that was created under the leadership of Serok Apo. When Mahir Çayan and nine of his comrades were martyred on 30thMarch of 1972 in Kızıldere, Serok Apo organised a boycott in Ankara University and was jailed for seven months as a result of this act of retaliation. Once he was out, he met with two Turkish revolutionaries Kemal Pir and Haki Karer both of whom contributed to the construction of Apoist movement until they were martyred. Both of them along with others saw the liberation of peoples of Turkey in the liberation of Kurdistan and in Kurdistan revolution under the leadership of Serok Apo. When Haki Karer was assassinated in a plot organised by Turkish fascist state on 18th May of 1977 in Dîlok, Serok Apo said ‘I lost half of my soul’. The murderer of Haki Karer was killed a year after. Haki Karer was avenged. But the real act of retaliation was the PKK. ‘Blood has been shed now’ Serok Apo said, ‘For the sake of Haki, I have decided to found the PKK’. We can mention dozens of such decisive moments through which we can comprehend what Apoist revolutionary retaliation is about and where our legitimate right to retaliation comes from.

YPG is the army of comrades and militants of Serok Apo and hundreds of YPG International fighters are comrades of militants of Serok Apo. Just listen to the voice of Ş. Kendal Breizh when he exclaims ‘Biji Serok Apo’ in the interviews he made just before he was martyred in Afrin, you will understand what we mean. At least 38 fighters of YPG International from 15 different countries have been martyred in the last four years in the ranks of YPG and YPJ. Five fighters of YPG International from Brittany/France, Galicia/Spain, the UK, Iceland, 9 fighters of revolutionaries from Turkey have been martyred along with hundreds of our comrades from YPG, YPJ, and SDF in the Resistance of the Age in Afrin. We lost a piece of our souls with the martyrdom of all our comrades. Our blood boils when we think of hundreds of unarmed civilians and innocent children and elderly who were bombed and killed by the fascist Turkish army and its fanatic thugs, when we think of our girls are raped, our boys are kidnapped and tortured in Afrin. The whole world knows now that the fascist Turkish state supported Daesh in every possible way and now is building a safe haven for Daesh and other terrorists in Afrin. These terrorists already massacred and will massacre innocent people in Europe, in North America, and in China very soon. Fascist Turkish state is building another Raqqa to spread the terrorism all around the world. So all those who suffered in the hands of these terrorists and those who would be targeted sooner or later have also the legitimate right to retaliation as a preemptive self-defense.Every honorable Kurd and every revolutionary have the legitimate right to retaliation all around world. Demonstrations, protests, boycotts etc. are of course valuable as an expression of solidarity. But we need more than solidarity against such enemies that operate globally. What is needed is retaliation that will stop the global terror of the fascist Turkish state. As Serok Apo taught us, armed struggleis not only about firing weapons; it is the most intensified ideological concentration and it is the most realistic apprehension of politics.

We are currently learning from our mistakes and shortcomings with a ruthless self-critical approach and adapting ourselves to new tactics to defeat the enemy. We will protect our peoples in other parts of Democratic Federation of Northern Syria and sooner or later we will force invaders to leave Afrin. We renew our call on all our comrades, friends, and all revolutionaries to use our legitimate right to retaliation against the global fascism of Turkish state and against its collaborators. We also renew our vow to avenge our martyred comrades, to defeat the enemy, and to spread Apoist revolution of freedom and peace.

Long live the Resistance of the Age!

Death to global fascism of Turkish state and its collaborators!

Biji Serok Apo!”