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Abdullah
Öcalan:
My Concept of Freedom is the Freedom of Peoples
Translated by
Wijdan Derki
There is a special peculiarity to Dersim. Here
is an extended conference of Alevis being and I
would like to make a couple of points in this
regard.
The culture of Dersim is an Alevi culture.
They've had a culture of resistance for over
five thousand years, that is, their culture of
resistance has been going on since the Horians.
Those who belong to Dersim, either live there or
in the diaspora, should represent the real
meanings of Alevism and work on them. It is
possible to meet up with these circles. Dersim
has to be addressed within its historical
heritage. For Dersim I suggest the following: A
democratic commune special for Dersim could be
developed, for Dersim needs its special commune.
they could also establish their own city
assembly, which would comprise one or two
hundred people. For they did not gain anything
from that Alevi conference because these will
not give anything to the Alevis. Those who
organise such things are the remnants of an
empty liberalism.
There is a need for a formula within the
Kurdish question as well, and this needs to be
clearly defined. Not only be recognised, but
should lead, as a sequence, to an agreement. A
treaty between the two peoples will sooner or
later be reached as a result of meetings, and
everyone will be satisfied in the end.
The important thing is not my freedom but the
freedom of peoples. For I do not struggle for
the liberation of the Kurds only, but the
liberation of all peoples, my concepts of
freedom is the freedom of peoples. My concept of
freedom is the freedom of peoples.
Mahir Kaynak's analysis that there is a struggle
between globalised capital and national capital
to dominate Turkey is not correct. There is no
decisive break between the forces of
globalization and national forces; both are the
same and complement and reinforce each other. I
tell him this because he has an academic
position. This system is integrated and should
be dealt as such. He descends from the
intelligence background of MIT and knows these
things.
Here I have acquired got a powerful degree of
analysis, and I know what kind of enlightened
intellectuals there are in Turkey, and I know
the writers and intellectuals in Turkey very
well and know their ideological repository. I
have analyzed the prevalent capitalist order in
the last four centuries, and explained Marx
quite well. This should not be misunderstood; I
criticize those who act in the name of Marxism
more than Marxism itself. The Soviet and Chinese
experiences are now obvious to everyone; both
have become attached to the US hegemony at this
stage we are at; they have brought their
economies to this state. You see that car sales
have stopped now, and Turkey has turned into a
graveyard for for cars. On the one hand, people
are gathered in the corners of cafés hungry,
jobless and powerless, while they don't stop
manufacturing cars. We are fighting against this
mentality in particular, as if people have been
'donkified' (turned into donkeys), some carrying
loads, while others wandering around like
unloaded donkeys. What is it in this system that
they are defending? They call upon the United
States and Europe. Well these two are
responsible for this system. It is worse than
the Greek occupation. I know the capitalist
system very well; I have analyzed it well.
America tried to restrain Russia and says: Come,
let's be partners in the capitalist system. I
know very well what that means. Why do you serve
the capitalist system? What do you gain by that?
Take car manufacturing for example: they have
turned all corners of the world into piles of
cars. They had accumulated because they were not
able to market the cars they hand in hand, and
then they say: we will find a solution for that
- but is this what society needs? Even if you
reached a solution, whom are you doing this
favour? This accumulation of cars destroys land
and nature; instead of that, thousands of acres
of land can be cultivated with organic crops for
the benefit of everyone, and society will not
remain hungry and clean food will be available
to eat, and the earth will be saved from
pollution. [Turkey] calls upon China to come
here to invest and establish a car industry, and
appeals to it to invest sixty billion or six
hundred million dollars, I don't know. Do you
know what it means to call for investment? If
you become associated with the capitalist system
once, you will never be able to escape.
Furthermore, five or ten thousand people lose
their lives in road accidents every year, and
one hundred thousand people become disabled.
What is it you can offer people with a
capitalist system? And what of people problems
can be resolved? How are you going to resolve
the issue of starvation and unemployment? In the
capitalist system, they gain fifty billion
dollars a day, and I do not know how many papers
and coupons. Thus is the capitalist system; thus
they preserve the survival of this regime. In
the capitalist system, three hundred and fifty
million people have lost their lives in wars
only, and there is also cultural genocide and
other kinds of genocide. Look at the Middle East
and the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan,
and now people are dying in Sinjan as well. This
is why I criticised Marx a lot in my last book.
The capitalist system has been exploiting the
world for the last four centuries and it also
utilises the science for its interests and
authority. Then, what are the benefits you are
hoping to get from the capitalist system? And
what does the salvation you're waiting for look
like? Why do you feel that you need to be
attached to the West? The capitalist system
exploited the world and took its values for four
centuries, and continues to do so. I have
reached power degree of analysing the capitalist
system and other systems. I have read
Wallerstein and Hobsbawm, both of whom have
critical views but they are not sufficient.
Wallerstein says: “We grew up within the Western
values, and drank from Western water and its
academic world; from the beginning we were
thinking one-sidedly.” That is all very well. I
congratulate him for this audacity of his, and
therefore I say: we are not obliged to be bound
by the capitalist system to such a degree. I
know the capitalist system and how to fight it
very well, and I know how to build the
resistance against it very well. I have analyzed
how to build society and how to defend and
develop it very well. Being attached to this
system to this degree does not bring about a
solution; on the contrary, it complicates the
matters more. So if we could not avoid
capitalism entirely, we can at least constrain
it. But who will be affected by that and who
will lose? Everyone will gain. Mahir Kaynak
should be told that globalisation and
nationalism are produced and controlled by one
centre and are not separate from each other.
Sometimes globalisation evolves, at others
protectionism develops and so on and so forth.
Does Mahir Kaynak understand me? Does he know
that I have put forward an important
alternative? That I analyzed the Middle East
very well, a new analysis? He can get my new
book. They define me as liberal democrat, but
no, I am not a liberal democrat; I am a radical
democratic, and my democracy is not that of
Europe.
The Initiative is not only military; it is
becoming clear that the civil initiative too is
also included - that is possible. I am always
critical of the wrong practical start point in
order to control and to move towards the power
of solution in the Kurdish question - not only
the incident of the thirty-three soldiers, but
there are many other incidents too. That is why
I mentioned the incident of the Zangirte village
(a village in Mardin, where a massacre took
place recently). If Oral Çalışlar (thinker and
writer) wanted me to demonstrate my suggestions
without thinking what the other party has to
say, so we are going to reveal our road map and
our proposals for a solution anyway, and
basically this will be our proposal for the
solution.
It is said that the military has not indicated
anything in relation to a solution to the
Kurdish question, neither negative nor positive.
So what does that mean? Does this mean they want
a war? Do they want to say that? In regard to
putting the responsibility for the road map,
which I am going to reveal, onto the shoulders
of the enlightened and the civil society
institutions, I am indeed doing that. Each
social group will be allocated a role and I will
allocate a place for intellectuals and civil
society institutions in the road map, for they
too will be part of the solution.
That's natural; the question must be discussed
under the headline of democracy. Was I in the
same class with Mumtaz'er Turkone (writer,
journalist, politician) in the Faculty of
Political Science? He is an important person,
who descends from the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), but he knows the issue and understands it
very well. I did not know him at all but I
followed his articles, which were good; he is a
good writer. The following must be said to him:
He could concentrate on the definition of
constructed Turkism. He notes this and uses it.
The examination must focus on constructed
Turkism, not only Turkism.
In regard to improving my condition in prison,
there has been talk about a type F prison model
"F" and house arrest. Of course, type F prison
can not be a solution; we are clear on that
matter.
There was a plot with respect to Southerners,
but it has failed. They were thinking of winning
the Southerners to their side, then terminate us
both together, and that's why they frequently
punished using isolation. They'd planned to
silence us here, then to unite with the
Southerners and liquidate PKK, but they failed.
This plan had long existed; the British and
other forces were behind it. They wanted to
implement their model for the North (northern
Iraq, southern Kurdistan) but I understood their
model of the North and stood against it. They
were planning to turn the Kurds into Armenians
and Kurdistan into Armenia. As you know, the
Unionists (Young Turks) isolated the Armenians
and then exiled them, and that was a Germany
plan. The big powers then founded a small
Armenia and imprisoned all Armenians in it, and
put Armenia in a position of hostility towards
Turkey. They had planned the same thing for the
Kurds in the North model. Since 1945, at the
founding of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK)
-and even before that– they had planned to unite
the Kurdish people around Barzani, to then
establish a nation mini-state in the south (of
Kurdistan) and attach all Kurds to it. They
wanted to make this nation mini-state
antagonistic to all neighbouring countries, to
use it to wage wars whenever they wanted. Like
Kirkuk nowadays; it is like a boiling pot. The
situation of Kurds will be similar to the
current situation of Afghanistan-Pakistan, and
they are the one who gain from such a situation.
Because I understood that, I stood up against it
and did not accept it. Do you know what the
issue with Cyprus is? There is a British
military base in Cyprus and when the military
base became in danger, and so as not to lose it,
Britain incited both communities there to fight
each other sixty years ago. Without that
fighting Britain would have lost its base there.
As long as the conflict continues, so will the
base; that is their sole goal.
I think I will finish my preparations by
mid-August; thereafter democratic negotiations
must start. But if the government did not
initiate any steps forward and did not accept to
negotiate democratically and created obstacles
for negotiations, I will accuse the government
of collusion. I will make my statements on 15th
August and there will be large responsibilities
for everyone. There is only one month and one
week left for the 15th August. Everyone must be
prepared, the government and parliament,
ministries, intellectuals and anyone whom they
want to be part of the negotiation processmust
be prepared for this. I think the decision taken
by PKK to cease fire will continue until the 1st
September, and then what? I think negotiations
should start for this reason. I don't suffer
from 'leader’s madness' but noone can understand
this and do it. If the government did not comply
with negotiation and take the necessary steps
towards a democratic solution, I will reveal
about the government as of that date and I will
criticise its policies. If the government did
not open the way for the democratic solution,
and if it did not develop this path, then I will
announce that the government is the one
perpetuating the war. Then I will say [to the
government]: you are the one who does not want
to resolve this issue, and you are the one who
wants to continue with the war, and you are the
one responsible for the death of thousand of
soldiers and police, and are responsible for
entrusting the resolution to the army for seven
years now, and you are the one doing all this
and you want it. I have written letters to Gül
and Erdoğan and to many other places in regard
to the democratic solution; all of them are
aware of my suggestions for a solution.
And I will say to all Kurds: manage your
affairs by yourselves. I will withdraw and say I
cannot do anything here; make your decisions for
yourself; consider me dead. Although the war
will not be the same as before on the Kurdish
level. As Turkey doesn't want a solution, PKK
will develop its relations with the US and
Israel on the one hand, and with Iran on the
other, as Iran would not take a place in on the
hostile front as it seems, and does not want the
elimination of PKK; it will change some of its
policies following the recent events. On the
other hand, the relations with Syria will
develop, because there are other forces that do
not want the end of the PKK as well. That is to
say, in every period there are forces providing
PKK with support, and new forces will always
appear. If PKK-A goes, PKK-B will come; when
PKK-B goes, PKK-C will come. When we started the
armed struggle in 1984, we were only three
hundred people and the struggle has continued
for over twenty-five years. Then we didn't have
the expertise or resources, and we had no
support from anywhere. Now there is at least
five thousand or ten thousand armed guerrilla
and you can find all sorts of cadres in PKK
today. There are elderly cadres, middle-aged
cadres, young cadres; their experience is great
and their power within the community is well
known. They have all types of expertise and have
organised units throughout the world.
Not only the PKK, but PDK and other southern
forces will fight too. In the south, there is an
army of one hundred thousand fighters, and they
will be joined by PKK fighters when the war
escalates. O you Turkish state, send an army of
five hundred thousand soldiers and fight! Four
hundred billion dollars have already been lost
up till today; another four hundred billion
dollars will be lost, and then there won't
remain Turkey nor a government nor economy;
everything will scatter. PKK may not achieve
victory but has the ability to continue the war
for years to come.
I do not really know the state of PKK and its
strength; I can not get its news from here, nor
do I know how PDK is doing and how strong it is.
I say all this without much knowledge but the
war has continued for thirty years and, if no
solution is found, it will continue. They say to
Turkey and the government: “Clamp down on PKK a
bit; it is dissolving and is almost finished,"
No, this is a lie!; they've been deluding Turkey
in this way for thirty years and PKK did not
finish in thirty years. Rather, the point that
PKK has reached is obvious to everyone. Turkey
says: we will get the support of Syria and Iran
as well as the support of southerners to clamp
down on them and finish them. No, you are
deceiving yourselves. And they say: we will
surround Kurds from all sides, militarily,
culturally, socially and politically. What will
happen? Kurds also will take their measures from
all aspects: militarily, politically, socially
and culturally. Next a new, four-sided page will
be opened. I warn again: abandon these things.
These opinions of mine must be conveyed to
Talabani and Barzani and to other figures and
institutions in the South.
I have analyzed well the course of history since
the Sumerians period up till now and I know it
well, and I know to where the history is
evolving. I have analyzed all systems/regimes
and can see to where they evolve and change. The
door is open to the Kurds and democracy will
develop in Turkey and the Middle East; this is
an inevitable reality. What the French
Revolution means for the bourgeoisie, and what
the October Revolution means for the working
class, so will Kurds play the same historical
role and be a driving force in the
democratisation of the Middle East. Many issues
will change; everything will change.
For some, it is obvious that the origin of the
development of a solution debate is a natural
consequence of the historical evolution. I am,
therefore, call for the establishment of an
academy to discuss all these issues. For those
who do not have a theory, do not also have the
power of solution; those who do not have a mind,
do not have a body either. Is it possible, then,
to have no mind? You come here and I ask you but
you cannot answer. If they wanted to understand
me, and wanted to follow me, they have to be
serious. You don't work and are not serious, but
you get involved in politics using my name, and
then you send me greetings! This must be left
behind, Even the Justice and Development Party
(AKP) has a thousand schools; their political
schools are everywhere. Why can't the Democratic
Society Party (DTP) open such schools? DTP must
understand these issues. Opening an academy does
not breach the law; it is legal.
Last week I did not talk about sports out of
nothing, to carry out activities such as sport,
folklore and other similar activities are more
difficult than fight in a war, therefore to
prepare a good folk group and to activate it is
the most difficult than the war itself. Why
they don not found their city councils? The
task of the Municipal Council is to build up the
city council, this is so legally, already I have
given you the numbers; usually councils are
composed of a hundred, two hundred or three
hundred people. Then Kurds can make their own
decisions. What you were thinking about it once
in the past, you should think about it a
thousand times from now on, and what are you
doing it once you should do it a thousand times,
but if you are not going to do what I said I
‘ll curse, curse them, curse you, curse the
others as well.
Basically,
the question should be resolved in 2002, but had
to be resolved in the era of "Ozal" (previous
President of Turkish Republic who was killed
over the Kurdish issue) you know Ozal era, he
lost his life as a result of Contras act. The
issue will then resolved, in a meeting of the
National Security Council one General said about
Tansu Çiller (Prime Minister in the
mid-nineties) "this bitch has destroyed
everything." This sentence is not min, not I
who said this, but said by the former navy
commander "Govan Arcaya" For the first time he
described me "Mr. Öcalan" in the meeting, we
received that news in this way, but I do not
know whether it was true or not, I do not know
if he used that description or not. And then
Çiller with others started the war, then they
escalated the war, and everything was changed,
in 1997-1998, they made a conspiracy against me,
and then followed by the incident of Osman and
Botan, it was the biggest conspiracy in the
history of our organization, they took the women
to their sides, and practiced despicable animal
life, this policy is the policy of "put two dogs
in one bag." They said: We have put two dogs in
the same bag, and then we tight its crater, the
dogs will choke each other, or is the policy of
" say to rabbit ran! and to greyhounds go grab
it’ as they used the term of "boiling in the
cauldron," but I did not fall into any of these
games, and stood confronting them. Some
officials came here and joined the investigation
at the beginning of 2000, some of them were
military leaders, and they spoke as officials,
they told me: “you have pull out your forces to
behind the border, and you started a cease fire
from one side only, but the army and the state
will not take you into consideration.” And I
asked them what about the policy of the State,
they said: The State will not take you into
account in this war; you have to escalate the
war to its medium density, take the war more
seriously, then they will take you into
consideration ", their speech was not quite
literally like this, but was the context of
speech, or what they want to say, which was
clear to me that if we escalate the war to a
medium density level of war, the State would be
forced to take us into consideration. Of course
I did not escalate the war because I was afraid
or hesitant, but I was honest didn’t believe
that the issue will be resolved to do so.
Furthermore, in the era of "Ecevit" (previous
Prime Minister) the solution would evolve, but
they incited MHP, so many discussions took
place, such as executions and killings, but the
solution did not come, so the solution did not
develop any since 2002. Any change will not
happen if the National Islamic replaced with the
secular nationalism, thus, secular nationalism
and National Islamic are the same thing, Both of
them were woven from same fabric, There is no
difference at all between Nationalism of “Ahmadi
Nejad" and Nationalism of “Netanyahu", both are
the same thing. Also no difference between
Nationalism of “Baath" and Nationalism of CHP,
this is what you should know it well. Democracy
is a chance to get rid of all these things.
"Abdullatif Shener," who separated from AKP
said: "We did not do anything over past seven
years, we as a government did not discuss the
Kurdish issue, even for once, did not even put
it on the agenda ", this phrase was said by"
Shener. "Do you know why? Because the AKP did
not waive up!! And ignored the issue, and killed
one thousand of army and police through out
seven years, it could be to prevent their death.
AKP has done such other Governments to give the
issue to the army, they believed that if the
army discriminate PKK to somewhat, they will be
able to terminate the question, but as you can
see the question did not. AKP granted everything
what the army asked for, for example the army
requested for articles can trail the children,
AKP issued it, and requested for articles to
Counter-Terrorism, AKP issued it, and asked for
other laws, and AKP government agreed everything
what army demanded, but the issue did not
resolved.
I call upon the Turkish people not to back
policies that are not there to solve the
problem. They must have and show their
democratic stance against those policies.
I think the operations in the area are more
local, it was clear from the talks that were
given by generals in Cholemerge, it seems that
such initiatives need to be pursued, and
officials there are implementing their
initiative. I wonder if there are any
developments about PJAK in Iran. Maybe there
will be a shift in policy, and fighting will not
continue. Ahmad Najad after the recent events
in Iran will review his policy regarding the
Kurds, in such circumstance one can struggle
in such a way. Is there any advice and warning
coming from intellectuals in Europe? There are
many talks about solving the problem, but is it
understood?
In the last few weeks discussion around civil
and military issue are being debated. But these
are related to the Kurdish question. Those talks
and discussion will become more common public.
Is there any difference in reality in solving
the problem one may ask? After 15 August it
would appear which way is more preferred. It is
clear that Siwan Party is work is continuing,
let them advance their work. One must tell Eyse
and others to work continually
The problem of why Siwan Party has not
developed, and what are the main obstacles for
such development, what were the main
difficulties in the election? Why some people
gave up what they were hoping for after
election? All these question need to be
understood and answered for better understanding
of the problem. Therefore I say that
academically the matter needs further study and
analysis. Siwan party need to extend its work
and includes intellectuals; it also needs to
make Batmane council more active, and other
council must be built.
For now there is no need for a new book. I
believe Hobsbawn book titled Pergaga Kevn
Revolution (Eski Duzen Isyancilari) did not
come.
There is a novel of Amin Maalouf titled Eastern
Piles ( Dogunun Limanlari) you can read it,
other than this book I am not aware of any other
books of Amin Maalouf , I got the another book
There is also a book of Carl Schmith, it also
can be sent.
If Adorno book titled Literature Writing and
Carr book titled the Revolution of Bolshevik
are complete, it good, other than this there is
nothing I need, except that I send my greeting
to prisoners.
If the comrades are sending their greeting to
the friends in Amed Prison, I send mine as well.
In addition, I greet our people from where you
come from and our friends in all other prisons,
greetings.
8 July 2009
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