Elif Ronahî: The guerrillas are not fighting an ordinary war

As a member of the KCK Presidential Council, Elif Ronahî answered the questions of journalist Mehtap Orak in a special broadcast on Medya Haber TV. We publish an excerpt of the television interview.

The Turkish government is promoting the imminent end of the PKK. The HPG publish daily accounts of the war in the Medya Defense Areas. What can you say about the current situation?

The HPG have also published a monthly balance sheet. I especially congratulate the Martyr Delal air defense units for their actions on airfields in Amed, Batman and Şirnak. I also congratulate the guerrillas, which have been successfully fighting in direct confrontation with the enemy for over a month. I send my special greetings to the fighters of the YJA Star. The following must be clear: The Turkish state and the fascist Erdoğan government launched a comprehensive attack on our people and above all on the guerrillas with a plan of extermination in 2014. We waged a very violent war and had to pay a heavy toll in the process, but the enemy was not able to implement the plan as it would have liked both in terms of time and form. It did not succeed.

What role did the guerrillas play in this failure?

There is a connection in the sense that the guerrillas are constantly training themselves, offering resistance, arming themselves ideologically and building a strong connection between the goal and their own life. This is reflected in the fight. Above all, guerrillas have introduced tactical and methodological innovations in many areas and are constantly dealing with them. And this is something very important. Special training has taken place on how to follow up this hostile reality closely and how to foil the enemy’s attacks. That has had an effect. You have to know and master the ground well, you have to understand the enemy’s way of thinking and its logic so to develop practical intelligence accordingly. There are sudden actions carried out with various tactics within half an hour. The guerrillas strike in unexpected places at an unexpected time. All of this has helped to foil the enemy’s plan.

The enemy has displayed all its strength. All of Turkey’s economic, military and political resources have been invested in the annihilation of the Kurdish people and the PKK. Everything is being done to reduce the influence of Abdullah Öcalan. In return, the Turkish state made concessions to all hegemonic powers. Turkey has eventually been converted into a state of economic, political, societal, cultural and social collapse. The attacks on women in Turkey, the suicides committed because of poverty, the murder of women and children, what is it? In order to eliminate the PKK and the Kurdish people, in order to commit a genocide, the country is driven into ruin. Erdoğan and Bahçeli are putting all their efforts into destroying the PKK, the Kurdish people are to be stripped of their identity. It’s genocide. And that’s what the war against the guerrillas is all about. This war is not just any war.

What do you mean, what kind of war is this?

The current attack on South Kurdistan is a NATO attack carried out by Turkey. At the same time, Kurdish collaborators have also been persuaded with the argument that they have a chance of survival if the PKK is destroyed. Qatar is funding this war. Billions of dollars are pouring into this war. Hence, no one can pretend it is an ordinary war.

The Turkish state does not want to put the war waged in the guerrilla area on the agenda as it used to. It hides its losses. Up to ten soldiers die in guerrilla actions every day. Even if there are recordings of it, the state does not admit it. How many deaths have been admitted so far? Doesn’t the Turkish population ask about it? The bodies of the soldiers are kept in hospitals or secretly handed over to their relatives. In any case, many of them are hired mercenaries. Most recently, forces have been transferred to the Medya Defense Areas from Idlib, Serêkaniyê and other locations. These forces are supposed to settle permanently in South Kurdistan.

How many changes of government have there been in Turkey in the last forty years? Has any government destroyed the PKK? No, they all self-destructed. Erdoğan is now in the final phase. The Turkish state is collapsing. This obsession with the annihilation of the Kurdish people has brought Turkey to the brink of collapse. In this respect, the guerrilla fight is important. Our people must see that too.

How do you rate the struggle of the female guerrilla YJA Star?

The YJA Star plays a major role in joint activities and carries out its own activities at the same time. Their struggle deserves the utmost respect. They take responsibility and pay a heavy toll. They not only fight for the women in Kurdistan, but also take responsibility for women worldwide at the highest level. They know that this struggle paves the way to freedom for women. The YJA Star thus creates a basis for women’s liberation. Great experiences have emerged in the formation of a women’s army. This not only applies to the YJA Star, but also to the women’s defense forces in other parts of Kurdistan. They can be traced back to almost thirty years of experience.

Last month, the YJA Star once again showed the world the fighting strength of Kurdish women. This gives women around the world strength and morality and they provide support in terms of ideas. The YJA Star cannot be reduced to its actions and to a women’s army. It is much bigger. The fighters know that they are freeing themselves in this war. It’s about women’s self-defense.

As a movement and as a people, we will always keep fighting. The guerrilla is now anchored in the mountains. Neither the Turkish state nor any other force can drive them out of these mountains.