NEWS CENTRE - While Devlet Bahçeli's remarks ‘on the liquidation of the PKK’ remain hot on the agenda, Abdullah Öcalan said, "The conspiracies imposed on the PKK leadership are a confession of the fear of the free identity of the people. A fundamental part of my existence as an institution is the Kurdish freedom consciousness and will."

 

The ongoing war concept in the Middle East is gradually putting Turkey into a deadlock. With Turkey's political deadlock and the lack of a solution for the peoples, the constant targeting of the Kurdish gains in the Middle East is increasingly squeezing the AKP and MHP government. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, in his speech at his party's group meeting on 1 October, said about PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan: "If the isolation of the terrorist head is lifted, let him come and speak at the DEM Group Meeting in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Let him shout that terrorism is completely over and the organisation has been disbanded. If he shows this resilience, the way for the legal regulation on the use of the right to hope should be opened wide open. Let the address extend from İmralı to DEM." 

 

While Devlet Bahçeli's statements were an admission of the fact that there is isolation against Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Öcalan met with the PKK Leader on 23 October. During the meeting, Abdullah Öcalan's words "isolation continues” drew attention.

 

PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's statement in Imrali in 1999, "The conspiracies imposed on the PKK leadership are a confession of the fear of the free identity of the people", reveals the games of the state mind today. 

 

‘Both there is and there is not’

 

Stating that the conspiracy and liquidation attempts imposed on the PKK Leadership can only be explained in the novel genre beyond the political and security analysis, Abdullah Öcalan said, "Undoubtedly, the ideological, political and intelligence aspects of the pursuit and liquidation are very important. But they can only explain the skeleton of reality. It would be more accurate and instructive to analyse the concrete and vivid narrative in the form of novels in various tones, using mythological, religious, philosophical and scientific approaches, including historical comparisons and utopia.

 

This reality goes beyond the PKK as an organisation and Abdullah Öcalan as a person, and contains meanings that transcend them. It is not possible to analyse the situation of the Kurdish people with the concepts and theories of contemporary sociology, nor with the measures of contemporary political science. The phenomenon itself is shrouded or drowned in the characteristics of the mythological and religious period. Perhaps physically there is a people standing before us. It considers itself a human species. But when we look at it in contemporary terms, we will see that it is more unrecognisable than the harsh tribes of South Africa, that it has no identity, that it is far away from all its natural rights, even from the free use of its language.

 

This is an appalling situation that does not fit into any measure of humanity. It both exists and does not exist; it is both human and not human; it is both a people and not a people. These ‘boths’ can be increased even more. Moreover, official policies openly express and implement this style."

 

‘Has never been able to get rid of his in-between position’

 

Stating that this situation is a result of international and regional interests, Abdullah Öcalan said, "The phenomenon has been influenced by the coups of many powers in all important epochs of history. Similar situations have been experienced in many parts of the world. But the uniqueness of the Kurdish phenomenon has been neither to be like itself nor to be like others who impose themselves. It has never been able to get rid of its in-between position. It was not clear whether it was a virgin or a prostitute.

 

Every one who has come has infected it with his evil and has not been able to conquer it. Strangely enough, when those who claim that there is no such people are asked, ‘If it is a part of you, then why do you leave it like a cancerous limb?’ they remain completely unanswered. There is a UN in this world. It has wide powers on behalf of the nations and peoples of the world.

 

It takes decisions for the most backward tribes of Africa, and recognises as members many so-called states that number less than a million people. But when it comes to the Kurdish phenomenon, its existence becomes controversial. It is ignored in terms of its rights. The roots of all these facts are hidden in history. Only if we fully analyse the language of mythology and religions, and if we mobilise some honest and moral scientists, we may be able to understand it in parts."

 

Abdullah Öcalan makes the following statements in the continuation of his assessment:

 

‘Let no one accuse me of having fought less with the Turkish chauvinist mentality, which does not recognise people and does not know brotherhood, or let no one think that I am a surrenderist or submissive because I put forward the known attitude of peace and democratic reconciliation. The greatest resistance was hidden in this new attitude. Contributing to the unity of our peoples through honourable peace and truly democratic reconciliation was the most effective response to the conspiracy.

 

For me, at least, any other attitude would have served the ambitions of those who, in their great imbalance of power, were shamelessly waiting for war. The point I regretted the most was the insult they had inflicted on the Kurdish people in my person. They could have liquidated me.

 

But at least if they could understand this people who sacrificed thousands of their sons! I was a source of hope for a people who had no one, who did not have a single son who knew how to succeed. They continued to expect from the man on the cross and the man in the coffin.

 

From the man who considered his own birth the greatest cause of guilt, they expected the midwife of their free life. I never commanded neither the PKK nor the Kurds to follow me. Since they had no one else, I had to take on the more difficult role of Jesus two thousand years later. I also took on the role of Kawa the Blacksmith and modernised the holiness of Abraham.

 

The seriousness of the process must be recognised

 

When we look at the attitudes towards the peace efforts in the İmralı process, it will be seen that those who have constantly turned corruption, marginality, factionalism and enmity into an art play a role in this. Because a meaningful and serious peace eliminates chaos that is false, does not serve society and does not glorify the individual, prevents illegal situations, and makes the legitimate livelihood and lifestyle of the order dominant.

 

Those whose abilities and lifestyles are not equal to this, and who do not transform in time, neither understand nor want peace. They also do not know the pains and difficulties of war. Nevertheless, the seriousness of the process must be recognised. Whether it leads to full success or not, this process is important.

 

Even a war that follows it will be different from the previous one. The longest crisis in the history of the Republic of Turkey is the result of the past war. The crisis will not disappear until this is correctly recognised and transformed into a just peace. Because the cause is not diagnosed correctly. Then the treatment will not be correct either. Turkey is experiencing this contradiction in the 2000s. The crisis can be eliminated either by a new, bloodier war or by a just and honourable peace. Otherwise, it will not be able to escape from the social nightmare experienced on a daily basis.

 

The crisis process from which Turkey has been unable to emerge  

 

The İmralı conditions mean a third birth not only as a person, but also as a republic and a people. The second birth meant being born and cleansed by violence and war. In accordance with the law of the existence and unity of opposites valid in every phenomenon in nature and society, the period of opposition to the oligarchic republic, which lasted long enough on the basis of violence, will be replaced by the secular and democratic republic that will be realised through democratisation. As development cannot be achieved without contradictions, development can only be achieved by constantly struggling with meaningless contradictions that remain unresolved, let alone development, but only destruction, devastation and crises can develop.

 

Turkey has naturally entered into a crisis process because of its delay in understanding its contradictions sufficiently and solving them in time and it cannot get out of it. The process forces a rebirth and reshaping for all forces. From the state to the economy, from politics to law, from morality to art, every field is being shaken, overwhelmed and looking for a solution together with the crisis. My İmralı process also means triggering this reality. 

 

Me and the phenomenon of peace

 

Just as the previous process was characterised by the phenomenon of ‘me and war’, this new process is also characterised by the phenomenon of ‘me and peace’. A fundamental part of my institutional existence is the Kurdish freedom consciousness and will. This consciousness and will, which has been experienced through the war, is now going through the peace process. While the war process formulates itself as an antifeudal and antioligarchic republic, the peace process expresses itself in the form of renewing itself in essence and form as a ‘democratic and secular republic’. If separation and violence are not desired and total exclusion from the system is desired, the Kurds should not be excluded by force and denial from the process of statehood and nation-building that they have lived with the Turks throughout history with their labour. Peace requires that politics and the law give room for the Kurds to integrate into the republic by living freely as they wish with their cultural existence.

 

 To understand and define the phenomenon correctly

 

A republic based on the denial of free Kurdish will is oligarchic and inevitably leads to violence and separation. Its openness to free unity, i.e. democratic reconciliation, means living in peace and unity. This is not being implemented because the struggle between the oligarchic republic and the democratic republic has not yet been finalised.

 

In this respect, the Imrali process symbolically marks a historical phase. This process will either lead to peace; or, if it is not successful and the oligarchic republic's policies of denial and annihilation continue, then it will be followed by a process of deepening separation with more intense and comprehensive violence. This basic reality underlies the crisis that Turkey is experiencing in its deepest depth for the first time in its history.

 

The fact that the political phenomenon, which is the analysing field, has not dealt with the issue realistically and in a timely manner as the parliament and the government, and has not done its part, and that it has covered up the problems and left them to rot and remain unsolved, shows that the source of the crisis is politics, as has been extensively covered in the press. Politics thinks that it will get results by waving the death sentence over me like the sword of Damocles and makes the biggest mistake here.

 

This approach condemns Turkey to a system imposed from outside and inside and based on rent-seeking and corruption gangs, hence to the crisis; it causes billions of dollars in material losses every year, even every month, and causes deep moral pain and distress. If there is a fifteen-year war, a total balance sheet of 40 thousand deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars in material losses, then what needs to be done is to go to a correct definition and solution by addressing this phenomenon within all historical, social and international conditions. Unless this is done, it is inevitable that the crisis will escalate further in multiple dimensions."