On 27 February 2025, following President Öcalan’s call for “Peace and a Democratic Society,” a series of historic developments began to unfold under the leadership of the Kurdish freedom movement. The 1 March ceasefire decision, followed by the 5–7 May congress that marked the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the end of its armed struggle, signaled the beginning of a new era.
Despite these bold steps, from the very start of the process the state side has remained fixated on mere rhetoric, persisting with its demagogic discourse of “peace with the Kurds, brotherhood, and a Turkey without terrorism.” The absence of any legal or constitutional action, along with ongoing efforts to dismantle the organized Kurdish political structure created under the leadership of President Öcalan through countless deceptive strategies, reveals the state’s true intentions.
President Öcalan once again demonstrated how seriously the Kurds and their organized movement are taking this historic moment through his televised message delivered on 9 July 2025. Responding to this message, thirty freedom guerrillas, 15 women and 15 men, under the leadership of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Co-Chair Besê Hozat, burned their weapons in front of the entire world, showing that the organization was prepared to lay down arms completely. With this powerful gesture, they eliminated any concerns that might stand in the way of the process from their side.
The historic step taken upon President Öcalan’s call has been met with admiration by the Kurdish people and by peoples across the world, hailed as a deeply moral and principled act in the service of humanity. At this point, there remains nothing more the state or government can rightfully demand from President Öcalan or the Freedom Movement.
President Öcalan has been seeking a peaceful and democratic resolution to the Kurdish question since 1993. However, the Turkish state has persistently approached this initiative with bad faith, aiming instead to dismantle the Freedom Movement. The clearest example of this intent can be seen in the period between 2013 and 2015. Under the guise of a so-called “solution process,” the Turkish government prepared to implement its genocidal plan known as the “Collapse Doctrine” against the Kurds.
Yet, as the history of revolutionary struggle has shown time and again, these dirty calculations, deceptions, and schemes aimed at the Kurdish Freedom Movement have been dismantled through the resistance of the guerrilla forces in the free mountains and sent right back to Ankara. If the current call for “Peace and a Democratic Society,” which also represents a historic opportunity for the state itself, is once again manipulated or abused, this time the miscalculation will not only be corrected by the free mountains. As Devlet Bahçeli himself warned, in the face of today’s rapidly shifting domestic and international conditions, the Turkish state risks being “completely driven out of Anatolia.”
Following the historic steps taken by President Öcalan and the Freedom Movement between 9 and 11 July, public attention turned to what kind of statement President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan might make in response. Even before the anticipated date, the special warfare media apparatus had already begun preparing the public for a major declaration. But when the expected moment arrived, it became clear that the atmosphere created in advance was misleading. In stark contrast to what was promised, “the mountain gave birth to a mouse.” Erdoğan’s concluding speech at the Ankara-Kızılcahamam meeting on 12 July failed to generate any real political impact beyond that disappointment.
Erdoğan’s remarks, in one respect, amounted to an admission of the genocide the Turkish state has committed against the Kurds over the past century. They served as a confession to the abduction and execution of Kurds through enforced disappearances using the infamous “White Toros” vehicles; to the burning of thousands of villages; to the displacement of millions of Kurds from their homes and lands; to the crimes against humanity committed in the Diyarbakır (Amed) prison; to the brutal torture inflicted there; and to the insults hurled at Kurdish mothers who were dragged across the ground simply for speaking Kurdish.
Yet while Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made these acknowledgments, no one turned to him and asked the critical question: “All right, the state committed these crimes against the Kurds in the past. It is significant that you are admitting this on behalf of the state. But what crimes have been committed against the Kurds during your own 23 years in power?” Since that question was never raised, Erdoğan’s admission remained entirely one-sided. The genocide committed against the Kurds was thus limited to the administrations before him, as if his own hands were clean. In reality, the list of crimes against humanity and genocide committed during Erdoğan’s 23-year rule is long and harrowing. On 21 November 2004, 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz and his father were killed in Mardin. In 2006, it was Erdoğan himself who responded to Kurdish calls for peace and freedom with the chilling words, “Even if it’s a woman or a child, whatever is necessary will be done.” The Roboski massacre on 28 December 2011, the Suruç bombing on 20 July 2015, the Ankara Train Station massacre on 10 October 2015, and the immolation of wounded civilians in the basements of Cizre that same year, all took place under his leadership. So too did the killing of thousands of Kurds, including Taybet Ana, whose death remains etched into the collective memory of a people.
In addition to the crimes against humanity committed in Northern Kurdistan (Bakur), Erdoğan’s era will also be remembered for horrific atrocities carried out in Afrin (Efrin), Serêkanîye and Girê Spî, where thousands of civilians, including women and children, were burned alive with napalm bombs. In Southern Kurdistan (Başur), his government has been documented using chemical weapons, banned munitions, and tactical nuclear explosives, leaving a devastating legacy.
These events serve not only as a painful memory for the Kurds but as sobering lessons for all peoples of the Middle East and humanity at large. For this very reason, the Kurds, who have long taken unilateral steps toward historic reconciliation and brotherhood, will move forward not by listening to words, but by evaluating concrete actions, guided by the bitter experiences they have endured.
That is why every step must be taken wisely and responsibly, because if not, a false calculation will once again be answered by the free mountains!