Well known French philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin has voiced his support for the freedom of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) co-founder Abdullah Öcalan. The 102-year-old, known for his work on complexity and “complex thought”, told Kurdish media: “The Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom is a just cause. We must fight for the Kurdish people and its leader Abdullah Öcalan.”
Morin, in an interview with Serkan Demirel of Firat News Agency (ANF), said that he admired the Kurdish cause. In fact, Morin is a long standing advocate in support of the Kurdish people.
The world-renowned thinker has been a key figure in sociology from the 1950s to the present day. He holds honorary degrees from a total of 38 universities worldwide.
Morin said that freedom for Abdullah Öcalan is key to achieving peace. He told Demirel: “We should not give up on the struggle and campaign” for the “Kurdish people and their leader Abdullah Öcalan”. He continued: “the forces that can take action for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem are very weak and dispersed. In order for an international intervention in favour of the Kurdish people to take place, there must be a democratic revival in the world. In this sense, international pressure on Turkey in favour of Abdullah Öcalan may be effective.” Morin also called for more people to take note of the achievements of the Rojava revolution, in creating a new, liberatory form of people’s democracy – with women’s freedom at its heart.
The French philosopher argued that the problems facing the Kurdish people today have their roots in the unjust agreements carved out by imperial powers at the time of the fall of the Ottoman empire. “The Kurdish people suffered division into nation states arbitrarily imposed by the British and French after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. As a result of these policies, the Kurdish people found themselves divided among various nations, from Turkey to Iran, and were deprived of their right to nationhood. In addition, the division of the Ottoman Empire into ethnically unequal nations in Europe and Asia led to disastrous wars,” he said. Morin added: “The conflicts in Yugoslavia, then Kosovo in Europe, and the Middle East developed as a result of the nation-state borders drawn that day.”
Morin cautioned that the “crisis of democracies” and rapid advances in state surveillance technologies were enabling “the rise of populist policies and leaders.”
In Morin’s view, Western leaders only support the Kurdish people when it’s in their interests to do so. “Western powers have never taken into account the national needs of the Kurdish people. On the contrary, they supported the Kurdish people in Syria in the war against ISIS in line with their own interests,” he said.
When asked his opinion about why the PKK was listed as a terrorist group in the EU, Morin argued, “the word terrorist has always been used incorrectly to describe resistance against an element of oppression. This attitude does not serve peace.”
Calling for an international conference to find a peaceful solution to the conflicts in the Middle East, Morin said, “We need to create conditions for an international meeting to improve the situation in the Middle East, including the Kurdish and Palestinian peoples. However, we are far from such a perspective,” he added.
Morin concluded by saying “the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom is a just cause and I have fought and will continue to fight on their behalf”.
