29 October marks the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. Across the country, “Republic Day” celebrations are taking place in every field. However, Turkish politics is deeply fragmented. Even on the day of the republic, the government and the opposition cannot come together. The Kurds, who actively and extensively participated in the establishment and proclamation of the republic, are not taking part in this year’s celebrations and instead feel a deep sense of bitterness. How did the Kurds reach this point, and who brought them here?
The Kemalist movement, which emerged and developed from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, relied most heavily on the support of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the Kurdish people. Kurds had joined the National Forces (Kuvay-i Milliye) movement, which paved the way for the republic, in great numbers. They also hosted the Sivas and Erzurum congresses, which marked the beginning of the road toward the establishment of the republic. Mustafa Kemal, the leader of this movement, built strong ties with prominent Kurdish figures and relied heavily on their support throughout his struggle. Therefore, the Kurds were among the essential founding forces of the War of Independence that led to the creation of the republic.
But what happened afterward? How and why did this situation change? For a century, the ruling powers of the republic have defined these questions as “Kurdish rebellion and betrayal,” trying to indoctrinate Turkish society into denying the Kurdish people. They have worked relentlessly to impose an anti-Kurdish, racist, nationalist, and chauvinistic mindset throughout the country. Through this approach, they divided the two founding peoples of the republic, the Turks and the Kurds, turning them against one another, and consistently held the Kurds responsible, labeling them as “separatists.” Naturally, a republic shaped by such an understanding and policy could never become a democratic one. On the contrary, it gradually evolved into an oligarchic system.
Although the Kurds remained faithful to the National Pact (Misak-ı Milli), they consistently supported the protection of its borders and opposed any division of the territories defined as “the lands where Turks and Kurds live.” Yet who divided these blood-defined lands? Who, by striking deals with Britain and France, gave away Kurdish territories such as Mosul and Aleppo to foreign powers?
No matter how much the truth is hidden or distorted, the answers to these questions are well known. Everyone knows that this process unfolded with the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. It is no longer possible to conceal that the Treaty of Lausanne was a deceitful agreement between Britain, France, and the Kemalist movement against the Kurds. It was the Treaty of Lausanne and the powers that signed it, that divided the National Pact borders at the expense of the Kurds. Indeed, the Republic of Turkey was founded in exchange for handing over certain Kurdish territories to Britain and France.
After its establishment, the second constitution adopted in 1924 made no reference to the Kurds or their rights, marking the beginning of a dangerous process of denial and annihilation. Under the name of “civilizing the savages,” pressure and massacres were carried out against the Kurdish people, turning into a century-long genocidal policy. No other people in human history have endured what the Kurds suffered during the first century of the republic.
We will not recount here every atrocity committed against the Kurds over the past century. Yet anyone with a conscience and the ability to compare must acknowledge that these actions constituted genocide and crimes against humanity. In fact, during the early years of his rule, Tayyip Erdoğan himself publicly declared that what happened in Dersim was genocide and criticized Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for failing to say so.
The Republic, which imposed both cultural and physical genocide on the Kurdish people, never evolved into a democratic system. Instead, it entered its second century as a militaristic and oligarchic regime that has continually refined its mechanisms of control and exploitation over society. One truth has become unmistakable: a state that denies and seeks to destroy the Kurdish people cannot be democratic. Such a system inevitably extends repression and exploitation to the entire population of Turkey.
The first century of the republic can therefore be seen as a century of oppression and resistance, a struggle between state domination and the enduring defiance of Kurdish society and the working people of Turkey. Over this long democratic struggle, numerous revolutionary and democratic movements emerged, seeking to open the path toward a truly democratic republic. The Kurdish people, meanwhile, have resisted for their existence and freedom in every era, at the cost of countless martyrs. Over the past fifty years, this struggle has been led by Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan through the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It is through this resistance that the Kurds have developed a deep consciousness of identity, freedom, and collective organization in the face of assimilation and genocide.
Today, as the Republic of Turkey marks its 102nd anniversary, the movement inspired by Öcalan’s “Call for Peace and a Democratic Society” has transformed its course. The PKK has concluded its organizational phase, turning instead toward the broader struggle for democratization as the key to resolving the Kurdish question. This historic political effort is guided by two central goals: building a democratic society and a democratic republic. The aim is to achieve in the second century what the first century failed to deliver to democratize the republic itself and, in doing so, to construct a democratic social order. In this way, the struggle seeks not only to end oppression and exploitation within Turkey but also to secure the Kurdish people’s existence and freedom, reviving the original spirit of unity and fraternity that once gave birth to the republic.
For this purpose, Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan proposes a model of democratic integration. Through the interaction and mutual struggle between the democratic republic and the democratic society, a new way of life will emerge. The Kurdish democratic society, organized on the basis of its own existence and identity, will form a new democratic unity with a democratizing Republic of Turkey through this model of democratic integration.
It is clear that the Kurdish side, under the leadership of Öcalan, who has been declared the chief negotiator, is fully prepared and willing to pursue such a democratic solution. However, the same level of readiness and determination cannot be seen within the current government or the broader Turkish political landscape. Failing to overcome the mentality and policies of the first century, those in power remain blind to the great disaster approaching Turkey and continue to cling to the politics of easy rule and profit. This reality makes it all the more necessary to expand and deepen the struggle to democratize the republic in its second century and to resolve the Kurdish question on that foundation.
Indeed, Mr. Öcalan and the PKK have already taken historic steps to open the path and create conditions for such a democratic political process. On February 27, Öcalan issued his call. In response, on March 1, the PKK declared a ceasefire. Later, between May 5 and 7, during its 12th Congress, the PKK adopted historic resolutions to end its organizational structure and armed struggle strategy, provided that Abdullah Öcalan would guide their practical implementation. On July 11, a group of 30 guerrillas near Sulaymaniyah demonstrated their commitment to these congress decisions by burning their weapons, symbolizing a firm dedication to the path of democratic resolution.
On the eve of the 102nd anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, on October 26, twenty-five guerrillas who had withdrawn from Northern Kurdistan (Bakur) gathered in Qandil, publicly declaring once again their readiness to continue the struggle on the basis of a democratic political strategy. Without a doubt, this new step taken by the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and its guerrillas has further strengthened the foundation of democratic political struggle in Turkey, expanding the possibilities and opportunities for such efforts. In this context, no one, especially women and young people, should remain passive or wait for change. These opportunities must be seized through effective actions. Democratic mobilizations demanding the physical freedom of Mr. Öcalan should be expanded powerfully and widely, both within the country and abroad.
Today is a day of mobilization for this struggle. In particular, Kurds and their friends living abroad must participate in this mobilization with all their strength. During the demonstrations on November 2 in London and November 8 in Cologne, they should once again express, with great determination, the Kurdish people’s national-democratic will and their demand for the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.