The international conspiracy to isolate Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan continues 26 years after it began, according to the co-chairs of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), who accuse global powers of backing Turkey’s ongoing efforts to neutralise Öcalan and suppress Kurdish resistance.
On 6 and 7 October, Besê Hozat and Cemil Bayık, co-chairs of the KCK Executive Council, warned that the conspiracy remains an active tool of repression, targeting not only the Kurdish people but also the wider Middle East. “The attack against the Kurdish people’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and the Kurdish people that it represents continues to this day,” said Hozat. She explained that the conspiracy, initiated by powers including the United States, Britain, and Israel, aimed to neutralise the PKK and eliminate the growing Kurdish freedom movement in the region.
Bayık reiterated that the conspiracy was not only an attack on Öcalan but a broader strategy to control the Middle East through the suppression of Kurdish rights. “Capitalist modernity developed a system in the Middle East based on the denial and extermination of the Kurdish people,” he stated, pointing to the historical roots of the conspiracy in the Cairo meeting and the Lausanne Treaty. Both leaders highlighted how the Turkish state, backed by international powers, uses Öcalan’s isolation in the Imrali prison as part of a wider strategy to dismantle the Kurdish movement.
According to the KCK co-chairs, Öcalan’s philosophy, centred on the paradigm of the Democratic Nation, threatens the geopolitical interests of capitalist modernity. “They are afraid of his ideas and speeches,” said Bayık, adding that Öcalan’s influence extends beyond the Kurdish people, offering a framework for peace and democratic coexistence in the Middle East. Hozat noted that despite the repression, “Our people, our international friends, and particularly Kurdish women rose up in resistance. The conspiracy was met with mass uprisings and great sacrifices.”
Bayık accused global powers of complicity, including the European Union, which he claimed failed to stand up to Turkey’s genocidal policies against the Kurds. “Europe is trampling on its own values by supporting the Turkish state’s genocidal policies,” he warned. The KCK co-chairs called for increased international resistance to challenge Öcalan’s isolation and support the Kurdish struggle for freedom.
