The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement at the start of the 26th year of what they term the “international conspiracy” which led to the capture and imprisonment of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan. The statement calls for an escalation in resistance to counter the conspiracy, which began with Öcalan’s forced exit from Syria on 9 October 1998, and culminated in his capture and extradition to Turkey in 1999.
The KCK accuses the Turkish state of having a strategy “developed around the denial and annihilation of Kurds”, which has led to ongoing Kurdish resistance. They state that the most significant act of resistance was one they describe as “a struggle for existence and freedom” led by Öcalan and the PKK.
The statement asserts that the conspiracy aimed to “prevent the Kurds from entering the 21st century as a free and self-willed people” and to reshape the Middle East according to the interests of the dominant powers. A secondary aim was to neutralise Öcalan and thereby weaken the Kurdish movement. The KCK claims that Öcalan responded to the conspiracy with a “great mental revolution”, offering advanced ideas for a free and democratic society.
The KCK also accuses the Turkish state of employing new strategies to annihilate the Kurdish movement, but states that the Kurdish people have reached a level of political organisation that will allow them to thwart any attempt at their annihilation. They praise what they call the “Kurdistan Freedom Guerrillas” for their role in resisting Turkish state efforts, asserting that they draw ideological and moral strength from Öcalan.
The statement concludes by calling on friends of the Kurdish people to protest against the international conspiracy still more strongly and to say “stop” to the anti-democratic practices of the Turkish state.
