PKK releases 50th Anniversary Declaration

The PKK Central Committee issued a statement to mark the 50th victory anniversary of the Apoist movement.

The statement reads as follows:

“As the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and the Kurdish people, we are experiencing a new Newroz celebration. Newroz is our festival of unity, resistance and freedom. It is one of the most ancient freedom holidays in human history. With the breakthroughs of Leadership and the PKK, Newroz celebrations have become much more beautiful, meaningful and in accordance with its essence. Just nature opens itself to flowering in the spring, we also renew and restructure ourselves at every Newroz; we have been filled with the spirit and consciousness of unity, resistance, and freedom.

We, as a people, a movement, our friends we are experiencing the Newroz of 2022 with such an intensity of emotion and thought. We welcome the new Newroz year on this basis. There are enthusiastic Newroz celebrations in four parts of Kurdistan and all over the world. Wherever there is a patriotic Kurd, Newroz is always celebrated. The Newroz year is being welcomed with enthusiasm and determination. We believe that the feeling of celebration will continue throughout the year and that our struggle for freedom and democracy will be continuously improved by making each day as a Newroz-new day.

From this point of view, we congratulate the Newroz to Leader Apo, all our party comrades, our patriotic people, and our revolutionary-democratic friends, and wish them great success in the new Newroz year. We salute the great freedom struggle aiming for the physical freedom of Leader Apo that was initiated by the leadership of the Historical İmralı Resistance and continues with heroic resistance at the mountains, at the cities and at the dungeons. We commemorate all our heroic martyrs with respect, love and gratitude in particular relation to our great Newroz martyrs Mazlum Doğan and Zekiye Alkan. We celebrate the National Heroes Week of our people and once again commemorate all our heroic martyrs National Heroes Mazlum Doğan and Mahsum Korkmaz . We call to our people and friends to celebrate each day of this year as a Newroz, with full resistance!

As it is known, Newroz-2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Leadership Leap and the starting process of foundation of the PKK. Thus, this Newroz year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Apoist Leadership March and the PKK. The Apoist Leadership Leap took place in Newroz 1973. The Apoist Group, which formed the basis of the PKK, was established with a meeting held in Ankara’s Çubuk Dam area during Newroz 1973. Thus, the resistance and enlightening truth of the Apoist Freedom Movement emerged against the oppression and darkness of the fascist-military coup of March 12, 1971.

Now this Apoist truth march is turning its fiftieth year it has become clear that Leader Apo is a Newroz Leadership. The PKK was born and developed as a Newroz party. By the pioneering of Leader Apo and the PKK, the Kurdish people have become a Newroz people with a freedom struggle that has been waged for the past 49 years. This is the first time in the history of Kurdistan that a Freedom Leadership and party movement has managed to continue without interruption like this for fifty years and accumulated historical successes.

On this basis, we salute the turn of the fiftieth year of the Apoist Movement Leap and the birth of the Freedom Movement. We congratulate the Kurdish people, the women, and the youth for they succeeded to create a Leader and Party that has struggled relentlessly under unbelievably difficult conditions for fifty years. We commemorate the heroic martyrs of this holy freedom march with respect, dignity and gratitude and honor in the personalities of comrades Haki Karer, Mazlum Dogan, Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir, Sakine Cansız, Mehmet Karasungur, Agît, Beritan and Zîlan. We give our promise to them once again that we shall accomplish their aims and honor their memories.

Undoubtedly, the one who worked hardest for this sacred freedom march, that has been continuing for half a century, is Leader Apo. Leader Apo both launched this great struggle and held the heaviest burden and accomplished the most difficult tasks. He is the one who has liberated us as militants, party and people from the backward genocidal system, and re-created us in line with a free life. He has both made this path of freedom sacred and has always remained enlightened, paving the way for victory. Therefore, with our deep heart we can’t show our respect, love and appreciation enough to him, for these great works and dedication. The truthful and fulfilling practioner is the one who understands the truth of the Leader Apo deeply and successfully. We know this fact, and we mention that we are going to act accordingly in any moments of 50th struggle year.

Our heroic martyrs gave the greatest support to the Leadership during this half a century-old holy freedom march. They were the martyrs who made the struggle irreversible and became the guarantors of victory. Alongside Leader Apo, what truly educated, organized, united, and led us were our heroic martyrs. The martyrs brought into existence our endurance and determination for success. Without them we would not be able to do anything, not even take a single step. As the movement and the people, we came into existence in the footsteps of martyrs, and we have reached to this stage thanks to them. Therefore, it is essential for us to understand and successfully implement the truth of martyrs alongside with truth of Leadership. We always commemorate our heroic martyrs with respect and gratitude, and we will keep on always remember them. Our determined and successful march in the fiftieth year will also be practiced on this fundamental grounding.

Undoubtedly, our leading resistance has been our heroic guerrilla forces who lived and fought along the frontlines of sacrifice. Acting on guerrilla courage and self-sacrifice practices, Kurdish women and youth, and all patriotic Kurdish people created this heroic march that has been going on for fifty years. All the oppressed peoples, especially Turkish, Palestinian-Arab, Armenian, and Assyrian-Syriacs peoples, oppressed segments of society and democratic humanity, provided valuable support and contributions to this holy freedom march. On this occasion, we greet everyone with respect and love who contributed to this holy freedom march.

                                          

1-How did the Birth take place?

Undoubtedly, the Apoist Leadership Birth in Kurdistan did not happen suddenly or without effort. As a freedom movement, the PKK was not born and raised easily. On the contrary, everything was experienced amid great difficulties and impossibilities. In all respects, the conditions were unfavorable and functioned against us. The Kurdish people were completely engulfed in a process of national extinction. The fascist, colonial and genocidal system was functioning perfectly. In Leader Apo’s words, “not even a single Kurd was left who had not been betrayed against his own being”. In such an environment, enduring all difficulties and struggling against negativities, Leadership Birth and the PKK managed to emerge. The Kurdish people, who were put in a very weak position, also succeeded in creating a strong Freedom Leader and Movement.

As it is known, Kurdistan is a geography where sociality developed first. The Kurdish people are one of the most ancient peoples in history. The women-led Neolithic revolution, the agrarian-village revolution, developed in this geography most deeply and comprehensively, and the Kurdish people revealed at the highest degree the historical background of these revolutions. The power and state system, which is the deepest deviation in the historical march of humanity, came into existence and became dominant by feeding upon this accumulation. For this reason, non-stop invasion and occupational attacks were carried out against the geography of Kurdistan. The Kurds, who are the creators of sociality, had to constantly resist these attacks. As a result, the history of Kurdistan has been the history of occupation, invasion and warfare attacks and the resistance of the people against these offensives.

We are not going to describe or explain this history in detail here. However, knowing the basic steps of the development of historical sociology, and in this context, having a historical consciousness is also necessary in order to recognize the friend and the enemy correctly and to carry out a successful struggle for freedom. Despite all the invading and occupational attacks and the heavy looting and plundering they caused in the first age, the communities that were later identified with the name Kurds are not weak; on the contrary, they are strong in many respects. A similar situation can be expressed in terms of the first period of the Middle Ages. Problems and negativities in Kurdistan started mainly in the second period of the Middle Ages. Although the Kurdish people were considered to be ‘the loyal nation’ in the Ottoman Empire and had certain opportunities, this situation changed from the middle of the 17th century and the negative conditions against them increased.

The first permanent division in Kurdistan has been experienced between the Ottoman and Iranian Empires since the 1639 Kasrı Şirin Agreement. Although the Kurdish principalities emerged within the empire, they became a factor of division and collaboration with the enemy since they could not enable to be united. A process of turmoil in Kurdistan has been evident since the beginning of the 19th century, when the attacks of Eurocentric capitalist modernity were directed towards the Middle East. The central Ottoman Administration that was weakened by European modernity, turned to Kurdistan to collect more taxes and soldiers, and as a result, it re-occupied Kurdistan during the conflicts with the Kurdish principalities. The oppressed Kurdish principalities, on the other hand, were withdrawn into the state system and abolished by various policies during the reign of Abdulhamid.

During the First World War under the rule of the Committee of Union and Progress, the Kurdish society, like all other societies, was severely oppressed. The Turkish-Islamic mentality and politics that dominated the Ottoman administration of that time launched the process of genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian peoples, as well as the Kurdish people. Having been created by Britain and France after the war in the Middle East, the nation-state system divided Kurdistan into four parts and placed each part under the domination of a different nation-state system, and thus, deepened the process of planned denial and destruction of the Kurdish people.

In the second and third quarters of the 20th century, there were genocidal attacks in Kurdistan that were designed to this end. The states of Iran, Iraq and Syria, especially Turkey, implemented this genocidal plan by denying the existence of Kurds. All resistances that emerged in parts of Kurdistan against the aforementioned genocidal attacks were defeated and crushed. As a result of the 1975 Algeria Agreement between Iran and Iraq, the resistance led by the KDP ended in defeat. Thus, it was no longer possible to organize new resistances in Kurdistan based on traditional sovereign powers. Kurdistan has been under a full colonial-genocidal domination, and its approach aimed at completely eliminating the existence of the Kurdish people.

When the Apoist Leadership entered the historical scene, it set out on the basis of the analysis of “Kurdistan is a colony”. However, the Leadership soon realized that the practices in Kurdistan were not very similar to the classical colonial practices elsewhere, and that the situation was very different and more severe. He therefore focused on the concept of genocide, but it was seen that the genocide in Kurdistan was not similar to the genocide practices in other places. For example, the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek peoples were subjected to genocide on the basis of massacres and exile, but their national identity was not denied. The policy of the Kurdish genocide, on the other hand, denies the very Kurdish national identity along with physical massacres, deportation, and demographical changes, and foresees a heavy assimilation. That includes cultural genocide, and national annihilation. This practice of genocide has never been experienced in any other country.

It is obvious that cultural genocide is the most severe of the general genocidal practices. In Kurdistan, there is a situation goes beyond classical colonialism, to include economic exploitation based on political and military domination, and classical genocide, which includes physical massacre and deportation. It is not only economic resources that are exploited and plundered here, but also Kurdish national and cultural values. Here, there is not only physical massacre and deportation, but also the practice of destroying all human and national values ​​such as language, culture, history and mentality, and then, replacing them with other’s national values. In other words, the Kurdish national existence as identity and values ​​is destroyed and replaced by the Turkish values. The Kurdish identity is annihilated by multi-dimensional and most severe assimilation policies, and the Kurds are being Turkified with a planned and organized effort. This not only destroys the national values of the Kurds, who are one of the most ancient peoples in history, but also makes a situation in which the Kurdish individual ‘cannot be oneself, cannot foresee a future for oneself, but to think, work and live for others’. This is the level of slavery imposed on the Kurdish people.

This is exactly the very situation in Kurdistan when the Apoist Leadership was emerging. The concrete situation, or objective conditions, is completely contrary to and ineffective for Kurdish nationalization. Under colonial-genocidal capitalist expansion, Turkish, Arab, and Persian nationalization is taking place in Kurdistan instead of Kurdish nationalization. On this basis, the Kurdish people’s existence is gradually being destroyed and erased from history. There is almost no Kurdish individual and value that is not affected by this situation. In short, everything is negative and pessimistic for the Kurdish existence and freedom. The Apoist Leadership, which was born on the basis of the determination of this fact, existed and developed not by relying on the existing objectivity, but by contradicting and conflicting with it. Therefore, it existed and developed itself not on the basis of the possibilities and opportunities offered by objectivity, but rather on the basis of the consciousness, organization and action of the Leadership, cadres and people.

Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s personality has been a skeptic towards the ascribed life since his childhood and was in search for something different. Having observed the problems in the family and society, he was in search of new solutions. While he was doing his searches on the basis of a religious approach in the Amara and Nizip environment, he met leftist ideas and became a socialist while studying at the Land Registry and Cadastre Vocational High School in Ankara. Soon after, he got to know the Kurdish community in Amed, and the political tendencies in the society more closely. In Istanbul, he did have the opportunity to closely observe the reality of Turkey and its revolutionary-democratic movement.

For Leader Apo, a real period of seclusion is the period of imprisonment in Ankara Mamak Dungeon, where he was held for seven months starting from April 1972. He continued his intellectual concentration, which he deepened here, in the house where he lived together with Haki Karer and Kemal Pir in the winter of 1972-73, and when he reached the conclusion that ‘Kurdistan is a colony’ and expressed this, he fainted slightly. Haki Karer and Kemal Pir were the first to hear this word, to see the truth of the Leadership, and to pay allegiance to him completely. Later, on the basis of this definition, the Çubuk Dam Meeting was held, and the Apoist Group was formed by expressing this idea to five Kurdish youth, including comrade Fuat. All progresses in Kurdistan have been carried out on the basis of such awareness and organizational work.

When one looks closely, it can be seen that this Leadership leap is in the form of a complete rebirth. It is based on self-education, intellectual concentration, a new consciousness, breaking away from the existing system and becoming a free individual. When Leader Apo reached the consciousness of freedom, he essentially broke away from the five-thousand-year-old power and state system and the five-hundred-year-old capitalist modernity order. And it started to create a new free life system on the basis of Kurdish freedom. Breaking with the existing order is essential for participation in to the Apoist Movement. Participation in Leader Apo and the Apoist Movement required a break with everything from the existing system. This, in essence, meant a revolution of personality. Against the destruction of Kurdish society on the basis of cultural genocide, the Apoist Movement started the process of liberation of the Kurdish people one by one based on the personality revolution.

The first birth and developments naturally took place with great difficulties. It was so compelling that it caused a slight fainting of his body. These challenging situations continued during the development of the Apoist group and PKK. Leader Apo has always defined his working style as ‘progress starting from null, and digging a well with a needle’. Kemal Pir stated that they talked for three hours if necessary, or three hundred hours if necessary, in order to let a person participate to the group. Undoubtedly, this situation has difficulties of breaking with the ascribed order. Groups that have a chauvinistic and social-chauvinist mindset in Turkey mostly ridicule the newly formed Apoist Grouping with their supremacist approach and arrogance; primitive and reformist Kurdish nationalists, on the other hand, tried to expose the group as an “agent” of the enemy by making various ascriptions. Even his father advised Leader Apo, “I heard that you became a Kurdish activist, this is dangerous, it is better to be leftist as you were earlier.” Apoist Leadership Birth and Grouping process has made progress by fighting against all these effects of cultural genocide and overcoming difficulties.

 

2. How did 49 Years pass?

The nascent circumstances clearly show how the historic 49-year-old Leadership Walk came about through struggling against great difficulties and obstacles. It is not difficult to see that fascist, colonialist and genocidal mentality and politics have attacked with all their might since the very first moment, to strangle the new libertarian birth. Undoubtedly, the first attacks were made on an ideological level, and on this basis, attempted to stifle the newly formed ideology of freedom.

The ideological attacks against the Apoist Freedom Movement were carried out in two dimensions. The first is the attack of Turkish social-chauvinism based on the colonial-genocidal Turkish hegemony over Kurdistan. The other one is the attack of primitive Kurdish nationalism based on tribal-feudal domination over Kurdish society, and reformist-submissive Kurdish nationalism based on the assimilated petty-bourgeoisie created by colonialist-genocidal capitalism in Kurdistan. Considering themselves as the owners of Kurdistan and Kurdish society, these movements have carried out a very violent attack against the newly emerging Apoist ideology of freedom. It was so intense that the ideological struggle on this basis sometimes reached the point of fight and conflict. In the end, the Apoist Group became the winner of this right, just and quite effectively carried out ideological struggle.

Having seen that social-chauvinism and primitive-reformist Kurdish nationalism failed in the face of the Apoist ideological grouping, the Turkish nation-state had to raise the level of its attacks to the intelligence war, as of the spring of 1977. As a result of the attacks carried out by the Turkish Republic in Antep and Ankara, the destruction and liquidation of the Apoist Group could not be achieved despite one of the leading cadres of the group, Haki Karer, being killed in Antep on 18th May 1977. In this context, in parallel with the attack of the paramilitary fascist forces, MHP, against the revolutionary youth movement in Turkey, the attacking of structures, institutions and individuals who became agents on the Apoist Freedom Movement that was developing in Kurdistan was carried out as parallel attacks. On the basis of the Hilvan and Siverek Resistances, the revolutionary struggle moves against these agent structures and institutions, while the cadres of movement were able to reach the people by breaking this structure to a large extent, and as a result, the PKK leadership and a new Kurdish popular resistance emerged.

It is known that the colonial-genocidal system’s response to this breakthrough was the fascist-military coup of 12 September 1980. On this basis, it was aimed to crush the PKK by the Kenan Evren junta, to create a new betrayal within the PKK by the imposition of confession tortures in Diyarbakır dungeon, thereby to break the Apoist spirit of freedom, consciousness and will, and to condemn the PKK. This colonial-genocidal attack plan was broken and defeated with the 1982 Great Dungeon Resistance, the preparatory work abroad under the leadership of Leader Apo, and the Revolutionary Guerrilla Leap of August 15, 1984.

Thereupon, NATO’s Article 5 was put into effect, and since 1985, the colonial-genocidal war against the PKK in Kurdistan has been undertaken and carried out by NATO itself. On this basis, an internationally planned attack was carried out against the PKK during the 1987-88 period, by declaring a ‘State of Emergency’ rule in July 1987, ending the Iran-Iraq War, organizing the ‘Dusseldorf Case’ in Europe and trying to resurrect the treason.  On this basis, it was aimed that the guerrilla be crushed, that Leader Apo be neutralized, that the PKK, who could not be judged and convicted in Diyarbakır, should be judged and convicted this time in Germany, and that the PKK should be withdrawn into the system based on collaborative-betrayal appeals. The guerrilla resistance, especially Leader Apo, and the dungeon resistance in Europe disrupted this plan of attack and it was unsuccessful.

NATO’s second plan of attack against the PKK was the Southern War in October 1992. Under ‘Operation Hammer Force’, war was waged by ensuring the formation of the Southern Kurdistan Administration and by the participation of the Turkish state in this alliance, with the joint attack of the Turkish army, the KDP and the YNK peshmerga. With such a war, attempts were organized to prevent the PKK’s entry into Southern Kurdistan, to destroy its potential to create liberated areas, and to encircle and narrow the PKK in Northern Kurdistan. In parallel with these aims, the main objective of crushing the guerrilla and liquidating the PKK was not achieved, despite some blows being dealt.

The last planned attack carried out by NATO against the PKK is the international conspiracy attack that started on 9 October 1998, and is still ongoing. This attack, which was institutionally planned and coordinated by the US Administration itself, directly targeted Leader Abdullah Öcalan. It used the support of all the governments and states forces it needed, applying many different methods simultaneously to carry out an attack with the aim of annihilation, execution, and refutation within the İmralı system. The target of the attack was to liquidate the PKK by neutralizing Leader Apo. Based on the liquidation of the PKK, it aimed to achieve Kurdish genocide. Our party, our people and our friends have waged a relentless struggle for freedom and democracy under the leadership of Leader Apo for 24 years to date, against this attack process in Turkey, mainly in the form of the February 15, 1999 conspiracy carried out by the governments of Mesut Yılmaz, Bülent Ecevit and Tayip Erdoğan. This conspiracy, which aimed to destroy Leader Apo in a single day, was rendered unsuccessful when spread over a 24-year period.

Undoubtedly, Leader Apo’s genius, determined stance, creativity and the paradigm shift he brought about accomplished a decisive role in this resistance against the international conspiracy, which is the most important and meaningful resistance in the Kurdish people and human history. Moreover, the self-defense resistance, which was brought about with the motto “You Can’t Darken Our Sun”, and the tens of thousands of heroic martyrs of this 24-year resistance, formed a circle of fire around him and defended Leader Apo. For 24 years, our heroic guerrilla forces, women’s and youth movements, our patriotic people from all fields of life, and our revolutionary-democratic friends have worked uninterruptedly to defeat the international conspiracy and break the isolation and torture system of İmralı. As a result, the Apoist Freedom Approach and the PKK, which could not be judged and convicted in Diyarbakır and Düsseldorf courts due to the resistance, this time was judged and sentenced in İmralı on the basis of an international conspiracy. However, by the contrast, due to the total resistance of the movement and the Democratic Modernity Theory written by Leader Apo, the party who was judged and convicted became the five-thousand-year-old power and state system and the five-hundred-year-old capitalist modernity order. Thus, the male-dominated, fascist, colonial and genocidal mindset and politics were put on trial and condemned by the İmralı Resistance and thrown into the dustbin of history.

The 49-year history of the Apoist Movement, which emerged with great difficulties, was a relentless struggle, but it grappled with these great di difficulties and defeated them. Each year has witnessed a greater and more relentless struggle than the previous year. The 49-year Great March of Freedom was accomplished because of a great and persistent struggle that overcame difficulties and obstacles each year. Despite all kinds of difficulties and obstacles experienced both inside and outside, the struggle for freedom and democracy under the pioneering of Leader Apo and the PKK continued incessantly. In 49 years, the Kurdish people have brought about very important developments that are of great value for women and humanity.

We can briefly summarize some of the main developments that have been created in 49 years, as follows: No doubt, the Leadership Birth itself, which took place in the most difficult environment of history, is the greatest development of history, and all other developments took place on, and depending on it. In the first three years of his debut, Leader Apo succeeded in creating a strong freedom line and revolutionary group in Ankara. In the fourth and fifth years of its birth, the Apoist Group managed to return to Kurdistan and become the Kurdistan Revolutionary Youth Movement. In the sixth year of its birth, on 26-27 November 1978, the group convened the founding congress in Lice’s Fis Village and formed a party under the name of Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party)-PKK. The PKK was founded during the historical Hilvan Resistance process and made itself known to the Kurdish people and public audience during the Siverek Resistance.

In the eighth year of its emergence, the Apoist Leadership Birth and Movement caused the fascist-genocidal enemy to carry out the fascist-military coup of 12 September, and had to try to extend its life by restructuring itself with such a coup d’état. In its tenth year, on the one hand it launched the victorious Dungeon Resistance against the fascist-military regime of 12 September, and on the other hand, it gave significant support to the resistance of the Palestinian people against Zionism in Lebanon. In its twelfth year, it carried the Great Dungeon Resistance to the mountains and the guerrilla by making the Revolutionary Guerrilla Breakthrough of 15 August, and shook the foundations of the NATO-affiliated Turkish system. As a result of the great guerrilla resistance and ideological struggle that made progress on this basis, popular uprisings started and the National Revival Revolution emerged in the seventeenth year.

The National Revival Revolution, which started in 1990, is a very important event and historical turning point for the history of Kurdistan and the Kurdish people. It includes the emergence of popular resistance and the guerrilla. It refers to the fact that individual breaks from the colonial-genocidal system experienced until then attained a grassroots structure and reached to the national level. It means that the Kurds broke away from the Turkish nationhood imposed on them and initiated the democratic Kurdish nationality. This process, which developed under the leadership of Kurdish women, is also the beginning of the Women’s Freedom Revolution. Both the women’s guerrilla and the authentic women’s organization made progress in this time frame. Fundamentally, the ideology of women’s liberation was developed, and the authentic process of the women’s party started.

Leader Apo and the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire prior to the 1993 Newroz celebrations, and started the democratic solution process to the Kurdish question. However, as a result of a well organized sabotage by internal and external gangs, this ceasefire attempt did not yield the intended result, and thus later, a widespread and violent war re-started after a short while. The great guerrilla resistance between 1993 and ’98 was carried out in the form of a campaign against extermination and liquidation attacks carried out by the genocidal gang that seized the Turkish administration with the slogan “Either it will end or it will end”. It is important that this conflict process, which is the biggest military event in the history of the Turkish Republic and Kurdistan, is to be understood correctly.

In the twenty-sixth year, Leader Apo and the PKK came up against an international conspiracy attack organised and carried out by the US Administration. For the past 24 years, they have been conducting a relentless resistance against the plans of destruction and liquidation of the mentioned conspiratorial attack, which started on October 9, 1998. In such a historical resistance, they nullified the destruction directed against Leader Apo, prevented his execution, deconstructed the policy of rebuttal in İmralı, defeated the internally imposed treachery, and disrupted all kinds of subversive plans and tricks. With the paradigm shift and the Theory of Democratic Modernity, Leader Apo judged and condemned the conspiratorial system. In the end, the movement brought the Apoist Leadership from a Kurdish national leadership, to the next stage, a universal one, and it became the leadership of all the oppressed, particularly the women. By starting the Rojava Freedom Revolution on July 19, 2012, we both experienced the practical application of the new paradigm, and revealed a revolutionary praxis that became a source of morale for all humanity.

Under the pioneering of Leader Apo and the PKK, a resistance campaign has been carried out for the last eight years, defending all humanity against ISIS gangs. This campaign, embodied in the Makhmur, Shengal and Kobani resistance, played a historical role by defeating ISIS and founding the democratic alliance of the Kurdish people with the other peoples of the region, especially with the Arabs, and created important results. The historical significance of this process, which still continues today, will be better understood in the future. The prevention of the genocide carried out by ISIS on the Yazidi Kurdish community, especially in Shengal, has cleared a black stain that was intended for the forehead of humanity.

Within the scope of the resistance against the international conspiracy, for the last seven years there has also been resistance against the ‘destruction action plan’. Those who planned to bring the Kurdish people and their Leadership to their knees with this attack, which is one of the most brutal attacks in history, have come to a kneel position today in front of the Apoist Truth. In the face of our heroic guerrilla resistance, the AKP-MHP Administration experienced a similar defeat in Garê in February 2021 just like the Turkish General Staff had faced in February 2008. In the face of the guerrilla resistances of Metina, Zap and Avaşin mountains in 2021, the AKP-MHP Administration has almost been all done in, and has come to the point of collapse. The end of today’s AKP-MHP fascist rule will not be much different from what nearly 20 governments have gone through over the past 49 years. Perhaps it will be much more bitter like the end of similar fascist dictators in other fields.

 

3- Achievements of 49 Years

So far, we have tried to summarize the process of Leadership Birth and the relentless struggle over 49 years. We also briefly expressed the developments that took place with the colonial and genocidal attacks. There is no doubt that the past 49 years have brought a lot to the Kurdish people, society and humanity. First of all, we know very well that the reality of Leader Apo and the PKK has been one of the most important issues discussed in Kurdistan, Turkey and the world in the last 49 years. It is also clear that in the next fifty years, these discussions will improve and become more meaningful because as days pass the diseases of capitalist modernity are multiplying, and the ruling and statist system is experiencing a complete disintegration and collapse. On the other hand, there is no more effective, holistic solution and model than the alternative created in Kurdistan and formulated by Leader Apo. All attention is concentrated on the truth of Leader Apo and the Kurdistan Freedom Revolution. And this concentration will keep increasing in the coming period.

Doubtless to say, we can’t here explain in all its aspects and details, what the actions of Leader Apo and the PKK, taking place over the past 49 years, have brought to the Kurdish people, the peoples of the Middle East and humanity. However, it is necessary to dwell on the most important developments and achievements that these 49 years have brought about. Unquestionably, the Leadership Birth in Kurdistan is a revolution in itself. It is a revolution of free humans, so it points to the beginning of a new revolutionary process in Kurdish society. Therefore, there has been a freedom revolution in Kurdistan for 49 years. We call it the Apoist Freedom Revolution. Leader Apo defined this revolution as the ‘Revolution of Truth’. He states that the Truth Revolution is also a mindset and lifestyle revolution. This means that a continuous mindset and lifestyle change has been taking place in Kurdistan for 49 years. The old mentality and lifestyle belonging to the colonial-genocidal powers and their collaborators has being destroyed, and instead the Apoist mindset and lifestyle has being built. It is indubitably the most important thing to dwell on these issues in the first place, and to evaluate the new developments that have emerged on this basis.

Within this framework, there have been very important changes and developments for the Kurdish people and society over the last 49 years. It may not seem apparent when you live within it, but that such change and development has taken place is unquestionable. There have been significant and meaningful changes to all Kurdish people and society, both male and female, to the extent of mindset, value judgments, mentality, rejection and acceptance measures, moral and cultural structure, and courage and self-sacrifice practices. These changes may not have occurred to the preferred extent, and there may also be many features that we still evaluate as wrong; however, none of this overshadows the great truth revolution in Kurdistan.

Of course, while observing the changes that Leader Apo and the PKK have created in the Kurdish people and society, we must first look at the changes in the spirit, feelings and thoughts, behaviors, social relations, and values. This is because a revolutionary change is taking place at the paradigmatic level in Kurdistan. For instance, in the past 49 years there have been significant changes from the effects of cultural genocide. The extremely individualistic, familial, hopeless, visionless, unconscious, weak-willed, unorganized, timid Kurdish people of 49 years ago have gone, and instead are replaced by those who give more importance and priority to national and social values, those who have a high spirit of freedom, consciousness, will, morality, and culture: a brave and self-sacrificing Kurdish people have emerged. A new Kurdish nationalization and socialization has developed with a libertarian and democratic mentality and behavior. The measures of patriotism have improved, and a new understanding and level of patriotism has emerged.

For certain, the most observable and concrete field of social change is in terms of women. This is because the place of women in a society reflects the fundamentals of that society. When we look at the issue from this point of view, we can see the individual level and national level change and development for Kurdish women and thus for Kurdish society with the intervention of Leader Apo and the PKK. There is a huge gap between Kurdish women of 49 years ago and today’s Kurdish women. Forty-nine years ago, Kurdish women who could not leave their homes and participate in social activities are now part of one of the most meaningful and deeply freeing revolutions in history. They are highly conscious and organized. They participate in social and political life at the pioneer level. They have developed their own autonomous organization and self-defense structures. Radical changes can be seen in the view and value judgments of women and society. A radical transition has occurred in Kurdish society from one in which men were were demanding, “Women’s place is in the home”, to a social structure in which men live under women’s rule and fight under women’s command. Consciousness, organization, self-confidence, courage, and self-sacrifice of women have determined the shape of the new society. In this way a new free life based on women’s standards has emerged, and a democratic society has formed in which individuals are free. Thus, free women and free men have been formed.

One of the most important issues in which change is observed in the Kurdish individual and society is in terms of criticism and self-criticism. The stiff and quarrelsome individual of the past has gone, and the individual and society that criticizes and self-criticizes based on social values ​​has emerged. Under the pioneering of Leader Apo and the PKK, both a power of criticism and a culture of self-criticism have been developed. A conscious and flexible social structure has emerged that recognises and accepts the mistakes and shortcomings in life, and it’s struggles, and recognises the power to change them with self-awareness. While analysing the past, Leader Apo points to ‘the person who shoots his neighbor for a chicken without any hesitation but does not even move his finger for the homeland and freedom’. Now, it is clear they are replaced by a new type of person, who unites with his neighbor, comes together, discusses the problems of homeland and freedom, and engages in joint organisation and action. Thus, the value judgments, life and work ethic of the Kurdish people have undergone a serious change. The individual has more social awareness and sense of responsibility. This is how the new person, and the new society is defined.

It is a clear fact that the direction, principles and measures of all this change in society are determined by the Truth of Leader Apo. Therefore, the Apoist Leadership Truth, which was accepted by the overwhelming majority of the Kurdish society and spread to all peoples and the oppressed, should be seen as the most important development of 49 years. It is a clear fact that the PKK is a Leadership movement; it is a movement that to this present day was born, developed, and led by Leader Apo, and takes all its principles and measures from the Leader Apo himself. Kurdish intellectual youth revealed the most important historical development by creating a freedom leader in Leader Apo. In this context, Apoist Leadership Birth is essentially a leadership with a national character from the very beginning. It cannot be seen any other way.

Leader Apo explained his breakthrough in the Newroz of 1973 as commemorating the memories of Mahir Çayan, Deniz Gezmiş and İbrahim Kaypakkaya, the murdered leaders of revolutionary movement in Turkey, and thus filled the vacancy experienced in leadership duties. Later, he turned towards Kurdistan and founded the PKK, which he called “founding the organization for the memory of Haki Karer”. At the beginning of July 1979, after leaving for the Middle East, the PKK turned into a guerrilla party with the activities in the Lebanon-Palestine field against the fascist-military regime of 12-September. While the First Leadership Birth mainly refers to the creation of theoretical consciousness and an ideological-political line, the Second Leadership Birth was mainly based on the progress of the military line and the guerrilla warfare. Both leadership processes are characteristically national. Therefore, the meaning and value of these two processes for Kurdistan and humanity is of historical importance.

The more profound Leadership Birth realized by Leader Apo is the Third Birth that took place because of the paradigmatic transformation he conceptualized in the İmralı process. The most important dimension of this intellectual concept came about by the fall of real socialism and the attack of international conspiracy. This time compared to the First Birth, Leader Apo’s self-critical focus on the problems faced by the Kurdish people in the early 1970s, turned into a self-critical focus on the problems faced by all humanity. Therefore, the result that emerged concerned all humanity, including solving the problems of freedom and liberation of all oppressed people, and thus the Third Leadership Birth gained a universal character. While the international reactionary forces were aimed at neutralising the Kurdish Freedom Leader with a conspiratorial attack, conversely this time, it was faced with a leadership that showed all the wretched of the world the path to liberation and freedom.

It is clear that the key concept of First Leadership Birth has been ‘the Colonialism’ and the key concept of Second Leadership Emergence has been ‘the Guerrilla’, while the key concept of Third Leadership Emergence has been ‘the Democratization’. The theoretical and programmatic framework revealed by the analysis of ‘Kurdistan is a colony’ has reached a strategic and tactical line with the definition of ‘guerrilla resistance’. The definition of a ‘democratic solution’, on the other hand, revealed a new way of solving the Kurdish question in the context of the theoretical and tactical perspective in the struggle against international conspiracy. This style, which is seen as valid for the solution of the Kurdish problem in the conditions of capitalist modernity, has been turned into a model for resolving all social problems, especially those of women.

On the basis of this definition, Leader Apo re-evaluated the society and its historical-sociological progress. He defined the ‘Democratic governance’ as the self-government of society, separate from power and the state. Based on this basic approach, he turned ‘Democratic Confederalism’ as a non-state-government model into a conceptual theory, and ‘Democratic autonomy’ as a society-based resolution model. Acknowledging that socialism includes the principles of equality and solidarity, based on freedom and diversity, and cannot be carried out with the power of state mechanisms, being tools of oppression and exploitation, he defined ‘Democratic Socialism’; solving the dilemma of aims-methods experienced in the struggle for freedom and equality, and defining a more harmonious methodology. On the basis of all these conceptual and theoretical analyses, he defined “Democratic Modernity” against “Capitalist Modernity”, and transformed the PKK from being a power- and state-oriented party into a democratic-socialist party based on women’s freedom and social ecology.

On the one hand, the deep self-critical focus and questioning process that Leader Apo went through under Imrali conditions put the PKK in a position to overcome the ascribed power and state system and direct a successful fight against the international conspiracy. On the other hand, he has laid the path to liberation and freedom to all the oppressed by creating the theory, program, and strategy of a democratic resolution, as an alternative to all the social problems caused by the system of power and the state. As a result, the PKK experienced a radical change, transformation and renewal and Leader Apo universalised himself by showing the way of salvation for the oppressed of all the world. Thus, the initial emergence, which led the Kurdish working class and nation, became pioneer to all the oppressed in the world with the Third Birth. In this context, the Leadership Birth, that is a historical progression for the Kurds, has become a historical development and achievement for all the oppressed. It is precisely this progression in Leadership that makes an impact more and more at the global level each day and year that passes, and so much so that the 21st Century has become the Century of Apoist Leadership.

It should be highlighted that one of the most fundamental achievements of the last 49 years with the historical Birth of Leadership and the development of the Truth Revolution, is the party and guerrilla leadership. In terms of the party, the PKK and PAJK are indicators that make the Apoist line active and organised. On the other hand, guerrilla refers to the self-sacrificing militant line and style of the party. In other words, the leadership of the PKK and PAJK is organised as a self-sacrificing militant guerrilla movement and becomes the main self-defense force and leadership of the Kurdish people and women in both practice and mindset. The self-defense of the people and women, led and organized by the militant and self-sacrificing guerrilla is combined with the leadership of the party.

If it is looked at carefully and evaluated accordingly, the revolutionary dimensions embodied in the PKK and PAJK are so high that they are completely based on the element of the self-sacrificing militant. Although they are called parties, they are fundamentally different from the existing parties in the world today whether they are in the right or left of politics. This is a new kind of party leadership. Likewise, the guerrilla embodied in HPG and YJA-Star exists in terms of self-sacrificing and freedom and is different from other historical guerrilla experiences. This must be seen and understood clearly. This is how the presence of the party, and the guerrilla has emerged, who provide continuous progress and growth in Kurdistan and are invincible. No matter how many impositions and attacks are made against this reality, no sort of power will be able to destroy this party and guerrilla reality and the self-sacrificing militant line that constitutes its essence.

We have briefly touched upon the historical importance of the National Revival Revolution starting in the 1990s and developing thereafter, for the existence and democratic nationhood of the Kurdish society. This is one of the most important and continuous developments and achievements of the last 49 years. Likewise, we also stated that the Women’s Freedom Revolution begun with this process. The Apoist Truth Revolution is comprised of these two revolutions and are embodied in the Rojava Freedom Revolution in our times. In particular, the Women’s Freedom Revolution reveals itself as the most profound and effective freedom revolution in history, and as an ongoing revolutionary reality.

As the crisis and chaos of the capitalist modernity system deepens and enlarges, being the most brutal method of oppression and exploitation orchestrated by a male-dominated mindset and politics, the struggle against this system grows and expands for freedom and equality of all oppressed segments of societies, especially the women. As with the Kurds, it becomes clear that the social segment most opposed to the capitalist system is women. Their circumstances have improved the awareness, organisation, and action of women around the world. Today, many circles accept and state that the 21st century is the century of women, and that this will only increase. Undoubtedly, in this period of progress, Kurdish women and the Free Women’s Movement are at the forefront. The Kurdistan Freedom Revolution led by the Kurdistan Free Women’s Movement have been progressing and has been a source of moral strength and inspiration for all oppressed humanity, especially women. This struggle in Kurdistan gives hope, enthusiasm and motivation to everyone.

It is clear this is caused by the Kurdistan Free Women’s Movement’s radical break with the male-dominated mindset and system, and its targeting of a free life woven around the phenomenon of free women, and its development as a revolution. It is Leader Apo himself who most strongly reveals the depth of the slavery system imposed on women, who structures the mentality, theory, program, strategy and style of the women’s liberation paradigm. Therefore, the Women’s Freedom Revolution in Kurdistan has concrete theoretical foundations, a strong and clear program, strategies and tactics that have been proven to be applicable in practice. Pioneering and concrete organisational structures such as PAJK, KJK and YJA-STAR have been established for this cause. There are thousands of heroic martyrs, and a great accumulation of experience brought about by the difficult conditions. It is one of the greatest and most effective achievements of the 49 year-long miraculous struggle. It is already becoming apparent that the main development and movement that made the Apoist Freedom Revolution invincible and spread it to all humanity is the Women’s Freedom Revolution. It is quite clear that this situation will continue to get stronger in the coming period.

Of course, creating the resistance itself in 49 years is one of the biggest achievements. The surrender-ism, reformism and subjugation created by the cultural genocide attacks have been broken, and instead, an enduring attitude, courage, self-sacrifice, and a culture of resistance have been formed in heroism. The type of Kurdishness that Leader Apo criticizes which does not do anything for the homeland and freedom, has been overcome, and instead, tens of thousands of militants live and fight in self-sacrifice and a new people have come into existence. In terms of the self-sacrificing ethics, the measure of revolutionism and patriotism were raised in Kurdistan. A human being who feels responsible for their homeland and nation, who thinks and struggles on this basis, has been revealed.

It is very clear that the PKK is a heroic movement in the national sense as well as on the freedom line. The PKK has more than fifty thousand heroic martyrs. It did what no other organization could do and carried out the 1982 Great Dungeon Resistance, which was embodied in the 14 July Death Fast action against the 12 September fascist-military coup. Likewise, while other organisations did not take any steps, the PKK initiated and succeeded the 15 August Guerrilla Breakthrough. The PKK and the Kurdish people have resisted all-out fascist-genocidal attacks and international conspiracy attacks for 24 years. In short, the historical dungeon resistance, the 15 August Guerilla Leap, and a heroic line and resistance culture created by the resistance against the international conspiracy are the main determining denominators of all this resistance. No power can break this spirit of resistance nor destroy the culture of resistance.

There are also important permanent political developments in Kurdistan, Turkey, the Middle East, and the world arising from the 49 Years of Leadership and PKK struggle. The Kurdish political status recognised in Southern Kurdistan emerged as an indirect result of the PKK struggle. Although some do not accept this fact, and try to twist it, this is the essentially what has happened. This status was created with the intention of fighting against the PKK, and the Turkish State said ‘yes’ and approved it for this purpose. On the other hand, the Rojava Freedom Revolution took place as a direct result of the PKK struggle and has advanced to this day. It is clear that this revolution is based on the accumulation of twenty years of work carried out by Leader Apo, and it develops under the influence of the Leadership and the PKK in all respects, and is based on the paradigm of Democratic Modernity. In addition, it is the PKK who created the democratic-autonomous life of the Êzidi Kurdish community by preventing the ISIS genocide in Shengal, and protecting Southern Kurdistan from ISIS by stopping ISIS in Makhmur. It was the PKK struggle that brought about a democratic-nation society and the democratic-politics by inciting the national revival revolution in Northern Kurdistan.

The impact of Leader Apo and the PKK in Turkey, the Middle East and worldwide are two-dimensional, a theoretical and a practical dimension. The Democratic Modernity Theory and democratic socialism approach conceptualised by Leader Apo are spreading rapidly in these regions with each passing day. The interest in the new paradigm theorized by Leader Apo, based on its understandable and future-oriented analytic character, is increasing considerably. Its effect on Turkish and Arab intellectuals is particularly striking and has been advancing worldwide. The Apoist approach reveals a new era of enlightenment in Turkey, the Middle East and the world, as much as in Kurdistan. In particular, the fact that he has created a new synthesis by taking the positive aspects of all thought systems throughout history, led almost everyone to recognize themselves in it and therefore to adopt it.

It is very clear that the Kurdistan Freedom Revolution is a concrete part of the Democratic-Turkey Revolution. The Kurdistan Freedom Struggle, with all its dimensions, has also referred to the Turkish Democracy Struggle. In short, the liberation of the Kurds and the democratization of Turkey are inseparably linked to one another. From this perspective, the relationship between the two is strategic. Therefore, every gain achieved towards freedom in Kurdistan is also a development towards the democratisation of Turkey. The same is true for the entire Middle East and the world. The formula of ‘Free Kurdistan, Democratic Turkey’ is similarly valid for the Middle East and the world. Without the liberation of the Kurds, there can be no real democratisation in the Middle East and in the world. This situation is also related to the Kurdish question concerning regional and global affairs. As a matter of fact, the democratising effect of every development in Kurdistan that leads to more liberation, is immediately apparent in the Middle East and the world.

Of course, the reason for the emergence of this situation is our positive ideological approach. Politically furthermore, the weakening of the nation states that exercise colonial-genocidal hegemony over Kurdistan immediately and directly affects the political status quo of the Middle East and the global capitalist-modernity system. Weakening colonial-genocidal hegemony in Kurdistan means weakening nation-state system in the Middle East and the worldwide. In this sense, the practice of the PKK, which has seriously undermined both enemy-collaboration attitudes and the fascist-genocidal rule in Kurdistan, has been shown to be very effective in the past 49 years. Obviously, this situation has seriously weakened the fascist-oligarchic dictatorship in Turkey, and brought the AKP-MHP fascism to the point of collapse. A very serious blow was dealt to the nation-state nationalism created by the capitalist system in the Middle East. The link between the process of popular resistance movements called the “Arab springs” and this situation is very evident and striking. It would be correct to state that the Resistance of the Kurds, fighting against the colonial-genocidal system imposed and supported by the global capitalist system on Kurdistan, manifests itself in the form of uprisings launched against the nation-state dictatorships of the Arabic arena.

The situation that we have analyzed here can be observed more concretely in the Third World War, which the global capitalist system is sustaining in the Middle East. In the early 1990s, it was intended for the purpose of preventing the PKK’s entry into Southern Kurdistan and to try to besiege it in Northern Kurdistan with the ‘Operation Hammer Force’. While a new intervention was launched in the region by the capitalist system, the PKK had to be prevented from utilizing the turbulent political environment. In this way, it was intended to prevent the PKK from spreading all over Kurdistan and triggering a regional democratic revolution. Indeed, it is well known that the international conspiracy was organized for carrying out these aims, and that on February 15, 1999, Leader Apo was arrested in exchange for the Turkish State’s support of the United States during the US intervention in Baghdad. In fact, they feared and held back due to Leader Apo’s power and management effectiveness. While Leader Apo was leading the PKK, the USA could not intervene in Baghdad. In the incident of such an intervention, there was fear that the PKK would spread to Southern Kurdistan and Iraq, so the first intervention was made against Leader Apo himself in the form of an international conspiracy.

With its struggle so far, the PKK has exposed the current Middle East status quo and hegemonic domination created by the global capitalist system and has weakened the intervention of this global system that is trying to further fragment the Middle East. However, it has not yet been able to completely defeat these reactionary interventions. This is due to some weaknesses in the PKK and our inability to put the Apoist approach into practice with full success. The international conspiracy attack against Leader Apo, which weakened the PKK, had clearly been carried out to this aim. As this situation currently appears, the PKK’s weaknesses have been overcome, and with the PKK fighting effectively, the Global Democracy Struggle develops along with the Democratic Struggle for the Middle East. The Fiftieth year of resistance will reveal these developments much more and concretely.

 

4- The Missions of the 50th Year

As the movement, the people and our friends, we are entering the Fiftieth Year of Leadership and Party with the Dem Dema Azadiyê (Time to Ensure Freedom) campaign. With such a mobilization, we want our revolutionary people’s war strategy to triumph. On this basis, we aim to destroy AKP-MHP fascism, to defeat the İmralı torture and isolation system, to turn Kurdistan free, and turn Turkey and the Middle East democratic, together with the physical freedom of Leader Apo. We also believe that we will accomplish these goals if we correctly evaluate the knowledge and experience that we have gained so far, and if we attempt to use creative methods.

In fact, as a result of the struggle we have waged for 23 years, we exposed the international conspiracy, and dealt effective blows. The fascist and inhuman character of the genocidal mindset and politics on which it is based has been thoroughly deciphered. It was thoroughly demonstrated to the public audience how the Imrali torture and isolation system representing the conspiracy harmed not only Kurds but everyone. The Tayip Erdoğan Administration, which has appointed to bring the success of this conspiracy for 20 years, has worn out and is on the verge of destruction. MHP, which Erdoğan wants to cling to, like a drowning person clutching at a straw, revealed the fascist and genocidal character of the Tayip Erdoğan Administration more concretely and clearly. Their failure to carry out the conspiracy resulted in a relative deterioration in relations with the United States, which had assigned them this task. Thus, the conspiratorial system itself became rather disorganized, fragmented, and weak.

On the other hand, despite having some difficulties and paying a heavy price in the difficult struggles of the last period, we did manage to achieve important gains. First of all, we have accumulated a great deal of experience. We renewed and restructured ourselves according to the strategic and tactical requirements of the struggle. Our struggle against ISIS has spread our movement around the world and brought it to a crucial point. We have repeatedly crushed the destruction and liquidation plan launched by the AKP-MHP fascism with the support of the USA and KDP. The great resistance that was put up by our heroic guerrilla forces in Garê, Metina, Zap and Avaşin mountains in 2021, and the non-stop actions of our people and friends led by women and youth have made us stronger. As a result, by successfully evaluating this practice in our annual executive meetings, we derived rich lessons from our failures, and entered the fiftieth year stronger and more prepared. Right now, in this regard we are much stronger and prepared. Therefore, we now have the opportunity to put up a stronger fight.

With this perspective, in the fiftieth year of the Leadership and the PKK, above all we shall understand the core of the Leadership more accurately and deeply and apply it more effectively and successfully. We shall do this all over the world, just as we did in four parts of Kurdistan. We shall spread the Apoist paradigm among the oppressed of the world and ensure that it turns into organisation and activism. That we fight successfully and achieve victory depends on the style that we stated. Both making the right decisions and implementing them with creative methods are the result of this sort of critically focused process.

At this point, our understanding of Leadership does have aspects that need to be criticized and corrected. It is true that we are committed to the truth of the Leadership; there is no doubt that we are labored with feelings of great courage and self-sacrifice. There is nothing wrong with this behavior. However, this is not enough for us to be successful. Proper participation in the Leadership is only possible by understanding the truth of the Leadership correctly and applying it to life successfully. This is exactly where we have problems in the understanding of and successful implementation of Leadership. The most important aspect is that we search the truth of Leadership. Our current performance in reviewing and understanding is not sufficient. However, what we need to do is to search the truth of the Leadership very deeply, to constantly discuss whether our practice is compatible with the ideas of the Leadership, and to seek solutions to the problems we face on the basis of the Leadership approach.

However, we mostly do not practice this attitude, and by the contrast, implement our individual views. Moreover, we are prone to be too imposing and persistent in these individual views. That is why our collective work and performance in mutual exchange of ideas with our comrades is poor and weak. Therefore, we are unable to maintain a consistent level of effectiveness in the Struggle. We confuse the struggle against the system from within the system itself, with the internalization of the system. This leads us to look for too many intra-system solutions, and to seek premature solutions. However, the democratic solution requires that we create an alternative system and be in a continuous struggle with the dominant system. Of course, we need to undertake the fight in the most appropriate ways and with the most appropriate methods. Based on these critical approaches, we need to adjust our own practices and become success-oriented professional cadres and patriots of the Apoist Truth Revolution.

In the current period we have been orchestrating the Dem Dema Azadiyê campaign (Time to Ensure Freedom) from the perspective of the revolutionary people’s war strategy. In this context, the goals we have set ourselves to achieve are quite clear and unambiguous. We shall destroy the AKP-MHP fascism. We shall break the İmralı torture and isolation system, and ensure the physical freedom of Leader Apo. We shall make Kurdistan free, and Turkey and the Middle East democratic. These goals are very concrete and clear tasks. In that case, all our work in the four parts of Kurdistan and abroad should be focused on the success of these missions. All our ideological, political, social, military activities, as well as women’s and youth activism must be focused on carrying out these tasks and achieving these aims. We should make our plans in line with these goals, and we should not put other different tasks on our agenda.

On the other hand, we can only achieve the success of these tasks with total resistance based on the strategy of the revolutionary people’s war, that is, victory will not be possible with different methods. So, we can only achieve these plans with the strategy of the revolutionary people’s war. It is clear, then, that our main form of struggle is the revolutionary people’s war. Our work and struggle which we carry on everywhere must be compatible with this perspective, and aim at the success of the revolutionary people’s war strategy. We must take the struggle on the basis of the revolutionary people’s war and the achievement of our aforementioned operational tasks on this basis. Any other attitude would not be a correct and sufficient approach. We cannot sometimes fight according to the strategy of the revolutionary people’s war, and at other times according to other different strategies. While one of us is based on this strategy, the other cannot work and fight on the basis of a different strategy. This is why fragmentation and weakness arise during our practical applications.

So, we need to combine the work and struggle we carry out in every field, both in line with the aims of our current campaign, and in the method of revolutionary people’s war. We need to develop our revolutionary work and struggle in all fields according to the requirements of the revolutionary people’s war strategy, that is, in a position that is committed to carrying it to success, conducting and supporting it. Without any difference, all our work and struggle must be on this basis and taken place in parallel with the requirements of the strategy and in line with these objectives. We cannot exclude ourselves from the strategy by saying, ‘there is war in this strategy, whereas I chose to make informative or grassroots works’. We have to organize and carry out all our ideological, military, political and societal works, struggling in accordance with the requirements of this strategy, and in a way that will serve its success.

Based on these basic approaches, our heroic guerrilla forces, first and foremost, will lead our 50th anniversary breakthrough, utilizing all the power and synergy of the self-sacrificing guerrilla and showing all the sophistication and creativity of the guerrilla style. And they will deal fatal blows to AKP-MHP fascism in the mountains, plains, and cities that is wherever the enemy attacks us. By strengthening the self-defense organization of the people and expanding its scouting and intelligence activities, they will strike and crush the fascist-genocidal enemy wherever they are. By involving the youth more in guerrilla and self-defense activities, they will expand the revolutionary war in every field.

Our patriotic people, in continuing their struggle under the leadership of women’s and youth movements, will be in constant activism by improving their educational activities and organizational structures in all four parts of Kurdistan and abroad. By producing creative forms of actions, it will make the popular pillar of the revolutionary struggle much stronger and more effective. In accordance with the educational and organizational perspective, they will completely expand the revolutionary resistance by developing all societal construction works according to the requirements of the revolutionary people’s war and based on revealing a self-defensive stance. By successfully leading the grassroots social movement, our youth and women’s movements shall successfully play a leading role in increasing the participation level of the guerrilla fronts and growing the resistance elsewhere.

All our propaganda and agitation works, with the perspective of our fiftieth anniversary campaign, will on the one hand, improve the education of our people and our friends within the scope of the Leadership paradigm and carry out a successful ideological struggle. On the other hand, it will bring it to a level that defeats the special-psychological warfare of the enemy and makes the correct and effective propaganda of the revolutionary war.

In the fiftieth year, our art and literature activities will reveal the most important operational practice, on the one hand fighting against cultural genocide attacks and frustrating them, on the other hand, advancing the Cultural Revolution in all its pillars, which needs our freedom revolution.

Our academic education and theoretical works will reflect the theoretical-ideological-philosophical level of our movement in its fiftieth year, and they will maintain a level of research that will be sufficient to develop and spread the intellectual revolution initiated by Leader Apo, to train the cadres in our struggle needs.

Needless to say, one of the most important activities of the fiftieth year will be our foreign relations and alliance works. Our committees and representatives, which carry out diplomatic activities in every field will attach much importance to establishing relations with the peoples of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, forming alliances, reveal common struggles and all kinds of unions and alliances, including strategic alliances. The Democratic Middle East Union will develop its activities at every level with all the peoples of the greater region, especially the Turkish, Arab, Persian, Armenian and Assyrian peoples. Likewise, they will strengthen our relations and alliances with workers and laborers, especially with women’s and youth movements, with ecological organizations and movements, with all anti-fascist and anti-capitalist forces to develop the Global Democracy Movement at all levels and all together. It will be open to tactical relations with everyone, and will try to expose and isolate AKP-MHP fascism by taking advantage of the contradictions within the statist system.

All of our party committees and organizations will act with initiative to realize successful revolutionary practice by making all kinds of decisions and plans necessary for the victory of the fiftieth year in their fields of duties.

On this basis we especially call to our party committees and organizations, all our party comrades, our heroic guerrilla forces, our women’s and youth movements and all our patriotic people from all segments of life, to understand the truth of our Leadership and Party, which has reached its fiftieth year, to realize its fiftieth year duties with the right mindset and to embrace it ever more strongly, and to conduct the Dem Dema Azadiyê (Time is Ensure Freedom) campaign, which aims to ensure the physical freedom of Leader Apo, to victory in its fiftieth year!

We invite all revolutionary and democratic organizations, women’s and youth movements, workers and laborers organizations, all oppressed peoples of Turkey, which are our dear friends, to further strengthen our united revolutionary struggle against the colonialist-genocidal Turkish State system and AKP-MHP fascism in this year, to create a Democratic Turkey, destroying the AKP-MHP fascism and ensuring the liberty of the Kurds!

We call to the Middle Eastern revolutionary and democratic forces, women’s and youth organisations, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist circles, especially the Arabs, to wage the struggle against foreign domination in our region and collaborative nation-state dictatorships in order to achieve the freedom and democracy together with all the oppressed peoples of the greater region as our Democratic Middle East Confederalism, where our peoples live freely and in fraternity.

We invite all socialist, revolutionary and democratic forces of the world, women’s and youth organizations, ecologist movements, workers and laborers organizations, all anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist parties and organizations, anti-fascist and democratic circles, to resist against the outdated power and state system and the capitalist modernity order that constantly produce diseases, in order to create a World Democratic Confederalism, in which everyone lives freely and democratically, by carrying out the struggle for freedom, democracy and brotherhood together!

May of all kinds of reactionaries everywhere be afraid, the revolutionary current of the century, the Apoists are coming! The Apoist Truth Revolution is spreading step by step in every area!

What we have done in the past 49 years mirrors what we will do in the Fiftieth Year of the Leadership and the PKK!

In the context of these calls, we celebrate the Newroz Freedom Festival of all our party comrades, especially to Leader Apo, our patriotic people, and our revolutionary-democratic friends; we are calling to make the Fiftieth Year of Leadership and Party the greatest year of struggle and victory in our history!

Down with the Fascist-Colonial-Genocidal Dictatorship!

Long Live Our Struggle for Freedom and Democracy!

Long live our Fiftieth Year Resistance!

Long live the Victory Pioneers of Our People, PKK and PAJK!

Long live Newroz!                                                                                  

Long live Leader APO!”