Responsibility for the casualties of the Turkish army lies with the Turkish authorities themselves, said Murat Karayılan, commander of the People’s Defence Centre Headquarters (HSM), in a Sterk TV message broadcast on Tuesday.
“We are fighting a defensive war, we have not attacked anyone,” Karayılan said. “Those who gave orders to the soldiers to attack the guerrillas are the real culprits.”
Karayılan recalled the heavy losses Turkey suffered recently in military offensives against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas in Iraqi Kurdistan and asserted that the Turkish authorities could not achieve results in this way.
The commander argued that Turkey’s increased military activity aimed to “destroy the will of the people in the region” and called on Turkey to “abandon its policy of genocide”.
The HSM commander and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) executive committee member Karayılan was speaking on the anniversary of the PKK’s first armed actions against Turkey on 15 August 1984.
Regarding the 1984 actions, Karayılan has said that the subsequent developments have ushered in a renaissance for the Kurds. “The 15 August breakthrough was a step towards existence and freedom against the policy of genocide and annihilation,” he said.
According to Karayılan, these actions have sparked a cognitive change among Kurdish people, leading to social change, empowerment of women, and political shifts in Kurdish areas.
Referring to the Turkish elections in May, Karayılan acknowledged the tactical dimension of the elections but stressed that the real Kurdish liberation would come from activism, the revolutionary people’s struggle and an all-encompassing socio-political effort towards a democratic nation.
