KCK Executive Council co-chair Cemil Bayık said that freedom and a meaningful life can be realized with the paradigm of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan and called on everyone to support the international campaign “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question” launched on 10 October.

The campaign “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question”, initiated by the international friends of the Kurdish people, has been going on for one month while the severe isolation of the leader of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan, continues. How do you evaluate the progress of the campaign and how should it proceed from now on?

Before answering your question, I would like to say the following: the month we are in is a month in which many friends were martyred. So firstly, I would like to commemorate all the martyrs of revolution and freedom with respect and gratitude.

As it is known, the great patriot Yûsif Gulo was assassinated by the Turkish state in Qamışlo on November 9, 2021. On November 10, comrade Yılmaz Dersim, one of the commanders of HPG, was martyred in clashes. In 1999, 18 comrades were martyred as a result of a chemical attack in Kulp. Yasser Arafat was martyred in 2004. Delal Amed and her comrades were martyred in 2017. In 1979, Edip Solmaz was assassinated when he was the mayor of Batman. In 1960, 283 Kurdish youths were massacred in the cinema of Amûdê. Seyid Rıza was arrested in Dersim and executed in Elazığ on November 15, 1937. His son and comrades were also executed. The great artist Ahmet Kaya was martyred in Paris in 2000. Comrade Doğan Dideri was martyred in Amed in 2017. Comrade Hüseyin Özbey was martyred in 1997. Reşit Serdar was martyred in Şemzinan in 2012. Of course, not only were these friends martyred in the month of November, there are many more than I can mention here. As I said, I remember all our martyrs with respect and gratitude.

As you said, our international friends have started a new campaign. Some results of the efforts within the framework of the campaign have already appeared, and I think there are more results to come, as the participation in the campaign is still growing day by day. I would like to take this opportunity to greet and congratulate everyone who is part of this campaign. It is a great campaign, but it has only just begun. It needs to be further strengthened and developed. Our international friends have started it and we as a movement have declared that we are also participating in it. We are not only taking part in it, but we are using all our means to make it successful and achieve its goal. This is a historical duty for all militants of the movement and all Kurds. Of course, it is not only their duty, but all the international friends of this movement, of the Kurdish people in the world, all those who fight for freedom and democracy must take part in this campaign. Because it is a movement for freedom. Participation alone will not bring results, a common struggle is needed.

The current policy against Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] has no precedent in the world. They are carrying out a very dirty policy, an absolute isolation, because we have not heard from Rêber Apo for 3 years. The policy they are carrying out against Rêber Apo is also carried out against the Kurdish people. They are even carrying out this policy against the democratic, socialist and liberal people of Turkey. In other words, they have isolated the whole society of Turkey with this policy. Everyone who has a political conscience, a sense of morality and is in favor of freedom is taking part in this campaign. This means defending the Kurdish people in the person of Rêber Apo. As soon as we understand the isolation, we can fight against it and achieve results. There is a reason why they developed the isolation against the Kurdish people in the person of Rêber Apo, the democratic, socialist and freedom forces of Turkey. Because Rêber Apo always provided a depth in the struggle for democracy and freedom. Again, there was a blockade in the socialist and freedom movement which Rêber Apo wanted to solve and therefore took up the struggle.

When the PKK was founded, it was under the influence of real socialism, which affected its practices. Rêber Apo wanted to remove this influence. He wanted to create changes and innovations in the PKK and its struggle. He worked with this aim and as a result, not only the Kurdish people but also other peoples were affected. The capitalist modernity and those who lead this system saw this. Rêber Apo is searching for the freedom and democracy movements, for the PKK and for socialism. With this search, Rêber Apo has also taken some steps. If this was not prevented, it would be dangerous for the capitalist system. That is why they developed the international conspiracy, abducted Rêber Apo and developed absolute isolation on Imrali. In this way, they wanted to pave the way and protect their system in the Middle East. They realized that if they could not develop measures against Rêber Apo, he would cause them great problems. Their system would be hit, changes would take place in the Middle East, freedom movements would develop. The leaders of the system of capitalist modernity, the powers in the region and some Kurdish collaborators of the system joined hands and carried out the conspiracy. They abducted Rêber Apo and developed a system of absolute isolation. But Rêber Apo had a goal and he focused, researched and took steps towards this goal and even the conspiracy could not stop him.

Rêber Apo continued his work even under the conditions of Imrali. He developed a new paradigm against the system of capitalist modernity. With this paradigm, humanity gained a great weapon. All those who fight for democracy, freedom and socialism understand the reality of Rêber Apo very well. They see that there is a solution in the paradigm developed by Rêber Apo. Because they are also in search. That is why they embrace Rêber Apo and his paradigm. That is why our international friends have started such a campaign. It is our responsibility to expand and deepen this campaign. Political pressure must be put on the Turkish state. Not only the Kurds, but all those who are involved in the struggle for freedom and democracy, who fight against fascism, who want to develop the brotherhood of the peoples, must take part in the campaign. They should also put pressure on the UN, CPT, Council of Europe and other international institutions. They should mobilize these institutions to put pressure on the Turkish state. Because if the Turkish state is not put under pressure, the Turkish state will never take steps for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo and for the solution of the Kurdish question. Because the goal they have set for themselves is the liquidation of the freedom movement and the genocide of the Kurdish people. The Turkish state, which has set these goals, will never take steps for Rêber Apo and the Kurdish people if it is not put under great pressure. Everyone is asked to put pressure on the Turkish state. Everyone should do all their work on this basis.

When this campaign was developed, at the same time, the war between the Israeli state and Hamas started. It is a big war that has started. While doing our work for the campaign, we also have to express our friendship with the Palestinian people. Because the Kurdish people and the Palestinian people are the same. In the Middle East, these two peoples are in captivity and facing dirty politics. These peoples have been struggling against genocide for many years. To protect Rêber Apo is to protect the Palestinian people. Because Rêber Apo has a very strong relationship with the Palestinian people. He stayed with the Palestinian movement for a while and built strong friendships. That is why our movement has a strong relationship with the Palestinian people. We even fought on the side of the Palestinian people against the policy of genocide and gave martyrs for it. Since Rêber Apo’s goal is freedom and democracy, it is the Kurds and the Palestinians who are most in need of freedom and democracy in the Middle East. Other peoples in the region may also have demands in this sense, but the Kurds and Palestinians are being subjected to genocide. Maybe there is no such problem for other peoples in the region, but there is such a reality for the Kurds and Palestinians.

Since Rêber Apo’s goal is democracy and freedom, he focuses on both Kurds and Palestinians. He struggled for years on how to solve these problems, how these two peoples could get rid of the genocide, how they could gain their rights, how they could live freely with their identities. As a result, he saw that the problems of the Kurdish and Palestinian people could be solved through the brotherhood of peoples. He saw that these problems could not be solved through religion, racism or the nation state. Trying to solve them in this way will deepen the ongoing massacres and genocide. The way to peace, tranquility and the elimination of the policy of genocide is through a democratic nation. This is where Rêber Apo saw the solution. Therefore, both the Palestinian people and the Jewish people must develop a united struggle against the war. This is the only way to resolve the situation. Some democrats, intellectuals and socialists both in Kurdistan and Turkey have made statements and calls regarding the campaign started for Rêber Apo. This is positive, but they should give more support. It is not enough to make a statement or call for support, it is also necessary to fight for it, to organize accordingly. If the campaign is successful, democracy will develop in Turkey, the Kurdish problem, the problems of Alevis and other peoples will be solved. This will also lead to the development of democracy and freedom in the whole Middle East. That is why this campaign is so big and important.

45 years ago, you founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK. What do you want to emphasize regarding the meaning of this day?

First of all, I would like to congratulate Rêber Apo on the founding day of the PKK. The founding of the PKK by Rêber Apo was not only a service to the Kurdish people, but to all of humanity. This is why so many people all over the world are standing up for Rêber Apo today. I would like to congratulate all peoples, our people and our comrades on this day.

It is important to remember under what circumstances and for what purpose the PKK was founded. It was founded under the most difficult circumstances, while a genocide of the Kurdish people was taking place. This genocide had a devastating effect on the Kurdish people. It no longer had the hope or saw the strength within itself to stand up again and stand up for itself. The people were in such a state. Rêber Apo has analyzed and well understood both Kurdish society and the enemies of the Kurdish people. Based on this understanding and analyzing the history of the Kurds and all of humanity, the PKK was founded. The PKK was founded against genocide. It was founded with the intention of making the enemy’s policies come to nothing and allowing the Kurdish people to live a life of freedom on their own soil, based on their own identity, with their own language. On this basis, the struggle was developed.

In this way, the reality of the oppressors and their backers was exposed while the Kurdish people got back on their feet. Today, the whole world sees an example in the Kurds and gets hope from them. Because the state in which humanity finds itself today is reminiscent of that of the Kurdish people. Just as a genocidal policy was pursued against the Kurdish people and little was left for the Kurds to cease to exist, today, at a similar level, the system of capitalist modernity has become a problem for all of humanity. The survival of humanity is in danger. One of the reasons why the young people gathered in Paris is precisely this. Capitalist modernity is destroying the foundation of life. In the name of survival, life is destroyed. That’s why they went in search of a free life and saw this in the paradigm of Rêber Apo. There is no other way. Humanity can only defend itself against capitalist modernity with this paradigm.

Just as Rêber Apo took responsibility for the Kurdish people back then, he is now doing the same for all of humanity. This is based on Kurdistan, because for him,  society, free coexistence and democracy based on the depth of human history are essential. Based on this, he takes responsibility for the Kurds, women, young people and all of humanity. People see a solution in Rêber Apo’s paradigm. That’s why the campaign was started and why so many people are supporting him. The offensive that Rêber Apo launched against capitalist modernity is now directed against the global genocidal mentality. Just as his offensive revitalized the Kurds and brought them back to their feet, today humanity is also being revitalized and gradually getting back on its feet. That’s why the paradigm is spreading more and more and the responsibility for Rêber Apo is constantly increasing. What kind of task do we get out of this? We must show a strong sense of responsibility for Rêber Apo. This is not only the task of our internationalist friends, it is also the task of the Kurds. Kurds, the militants of this movement, all need to commit more to this campaign and paradigm. We have to carry the paradigm everywhere in the world and work harder for it than anyone else. That is the task that falls to us.