“Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”

‘All Kurds should unite and speak out against isolation and injustice’

Mothers at the Justice Vigil continue their ‘Give voice to freedom’ protests demanding an end to isolation. Afife Kartal called for participation in the rally in Amed on 13 October and appealed to all Kurds: “We must raise our voices against isolation."


ANF
AMED
Sunday, 29 September 2024

Mothers of the Justice Vigil continue their ‘Give voice to freedom’ protests demanding an end to the isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the rights violations against political prisoners. The mothers come together every fortnight on Mondays and make press statements.

Afife Kartal, mother of prisoner Muhammed Kartal, called for participation in the central rally to be held in Amed (Diyarbakır) on 13 October and said, “The aim of our action is the end of isolation and the physical freedom of Mr Öcalan. We are calling out to the whole world to stand against isolation.”

Speaking to ANF, Afife Kartal emphasised that they are following the cause of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and said, “Our children sacrificed their lives in his footsteps. He is the leader of 50 million Kurds. Let the isolation be lifted; let the Kurdish people come together with their Leader. If Mr Öcalan speaks, our young people will not die, our nature will not be slaughtered, crises and wars will end. This state is killing our people, nature and animals. It ignores our culture and language. We want an honourable peace.”

Afife Kartal called on all Kurds to participate in the rally against isolation to be held in Amed on 13 October, saying “We must raise our voices against isolation. Every Kurd with dignity should stand against isolation and raise their voice.”

Stating that the condition of sick prisoners has also worsened, Kartal said, “Sick prisoners should be released as soon as possible. The prisoners whose sentence is over should be released. They bear hostility towards Kurds in every way. I underwent angiography twice. My toes are broken due to diabetes, and I can't walk anymore, but that doesn’t stop me going to demonstrations even in this state. If we don't raise a voice today, no one will tomorrow. All Kurds should unite and speak out against isolation and injustice. Kurds should stand up for their struggle. No one should fall into the tricks and traps of AKP and MHP. Let us starve but not give up our honour. On 13 October there will be a rally against isolation in Amed. Everyone should attend this rally, and we should raise our voices for the physical freedom of Mr Öcalan. We want an honourable peace to come to our Kurdistan. Our hearts should not bleed anymore. I don't want money, I don't want worldly goods, but we want Mr Öcalan to be among us, 4 parts of Kurdistan to be united, peace to come, our children to be released from prisons. We will raise our voices for this at the rally.”

TJA activists gathered in Amed and called on people to attend the “Freedom Rally” on 13 October.


ANF
AMED
Sunday, 29 September 2024

The Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) gathered at the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Amed Provincial Organization on Saturday to discuss the difficulties experienced in the past two years. The meeting ended with a call to everyone to attend the “Freedom Rally” to be held in Amed on 13 October.

Adalet Kaya, Amed MP for the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), said that they discussed the problems experienced and the deficiencies in organization. Addressing all women’s movements in Amed, Kaya said: “In the territory we live in, we are faced with a central administration that does not recognize its own constitution and increasingly escalates war policies. Poverty, deprivation, femicides, child abuse and all the social problems we experience are connected to the war being waged in the country. We must raise our voices and reject war and isolation at the rally we will hold in Amed on 13 October. We must defend honorable peace against war and freedom against conspiracies in Amed. We must also call for the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan and protest isolation. Because the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan means the solution tothe Kurdish question.”

TJA activist Havva Can said: “The entire Kurdish people are under isolation in the person of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan. In order to break this isolation, we as Kurdish women, will be on the streets on 13 October.”

TJA activist Adle Fidan said: “We call on everyone to raise their voices from Amed on 13 October with the philosophy of Jin jiyan azadî.”

Central rally in Amed on 13 October to demand “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”

The Platform of Democratic Institutions announced that a central rally will be held in Amed (Diyarbakır) on 13 October to demand the freedom of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.


ANF
AMED
Friday, 13 September 2024

The global campaign for an end to the absolute isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, for his physical freedom and for the solution of the Kurdish question continues. As the 26th anniversary of the 9 October Conspiracy, which marked the beginning of the international conspiracy against the Kurdish People's Leader, approaches, mass actions and events will be organised across the world, mainly in Kurdistan and Turkey.

The Platform of Democratic Institutions made a statement at the Association of Southeastern Journalists (GGC) in Amed (Diyarbakır) on Thursday. The Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır and representatives of the organisations taking part in the platform attended the meeting.

The platform announced that the campaign for ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a political solution to the Kurdish question’ has reached a new stage. According to the platform's statement titled ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’ the final of the actions and activities that will continue until 13 October will take place in Amed. On 13 October, a central rally will be held in Amed.

The press statement, the Turkish version of which was read by DBP PM (Party Assembly) member Elif Turan and the Kurdish version by Ferhat Ertaş from Ma Music, said the following:

“It has been 44 years since the military coup of 12 September 1980, which has taken its place in the black pages of history with its violations of the right to life and inhumane practices. The 12 September coup deeply transformed the official ideology, state-society and state-democracy relations in Turkey and reinforced the monist, denialist and assimilationist system. The 1982 Constitution, which was the product of the coup d'état, and the constitutional amendments that took place in the following period strengthened the political and social designs of the coup plotters.

On the anniversary of the 12 September military coup, the shirt of nation and belief based on monism is being tried to be put on diversities, local democracy is being denied through an over-centralised state formation, the field of democratic politics is being poisoned with fascist delusions and subjects, all kinds of tyranny against women is being put into practice through the male-dominated ideology, ecological destruction is deepening day by day through an obedience to capitalism and capital at the level of faith, and hunger runs rampant throughout the country. In other words, the political design of 12 September still hangs over the peoples of Turkey and Kurdistan like a nightmare in the forty-four years that have passed.

All kinds of democratic rights struggles, especially a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, and objections against the state in defence of society, nature and life, are being tried to be disrupted. The AKP-MHP fascism, the heir of 12 September, is expanding its areas of domination and developing comprehensive attacks against society's windpipes. The military attacks that deepen the deadlock in the Kurdish question and spill over the borders, the suppression of the demands for democracy by means of force, the oppression of the civilian sphere by all kinds of lawlessness, the systematic and ideological attacks on women, the deprivation of future for the youth, the injustice in the distribution of income, the horrible levels of income inequality and the desire to transfer the burden of the economic crisis to the workers and the poor have become the summary of the current picture in Turkey.

In Turkey, almost everyone shares a common fate under the regime's oppression, whether they demand recognition for their identity, want to protect nature or struggle for a future. We, who are the addressees of the multifaceted attacks of the AKP-MHP fascism, share a common destiny with our identities, beliefs, lives and nature. The way to say no to this common fate drawn by the rulers and to build a new life is to increase the common struggle.

The strategy of depriving the society of breath and shattering the opposition groups, which was initiated with the absolute isolation of Mr Abdullah Öcalan and the state of incommunicado, has brought nothing but violence, death, hunger and instability to the peoples of Turkey since 2015. The Kurdish question, which has been driven into a deadlock by absolute isolation, has become the cause of multiple crises in Turkey. On the other hand, with the policy of absolute isolation and non-communication, even the crumbs of democracy were wanted to be swept away, deep poverty spread to wide social segments, and no space was left for the search for rights.

At the stage we have reached, the AKP-MHP alliance's strategy of suffocating the society and shattering the social opposition is no longer holding together thanks to the stubborn and strong resistance of peoples, beliefs, women and different social segments. The AKP-MHP alliance has largely lost its social support. Despite the law enforcement and judicial power at its disposal, a large media apparatus and all kinds of material resources, the AKP-MHP alliance has decayed.

We believe that we can make the strongest breakthrough to increase the common struggle of the peoples and the oppressed against this rotten power bloc by ensuring the success of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign. Because we know that the AKP-MHP fascist alliance generates itself from the denial of the Kurdish people's reality and the criminalisation of the Kurdish political movement, especially Mr Abdullah Öcalan, and its objection. Therefore, taking our struggle against the fascist power to the next level will open the doors to the construction of a democratic life.

The state of absolute isolation and incommunicado imposed on Mr Öcalan, which is practiced as a management strategy of the current regime, is no longer limited to Kurdistan, but has spread all over Turkey, deepening the deadlock in the Kurdish question, which is the litmus paper of democracy and peace, and creating a political knot. Without untying this political knot, it is not possible to get rid of multiple crises. We must increase our struggle to untie this political knot that has been tied to democracy and peace in Turkey. By saying ‘peace against war, freedom against isolation’, we can write together the prescription to save Turkey from the multiple crises it is in.

On the anniversary of the fascist coup, we would like to state once again that the defeat of the AKP-MHP fascist alliance means the defeat of the 12 September regime. It means the opening of the doors to a democratic order by getting rid of the coup mechanism. It means ensuring that the construction of a democratic life will flourish again in the hands of oppressed peoples and beliefs. Based on the fate-determining character of the struggle against the regime of absolute incommunicado in İmralı, we say ‘Let's break the isolation together and march to freedom’.

In October, the global campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ will complete its first year. This struggle, which was initiated by world-renowned intellectuals, writers, artists, ecologists, politicians and lawyers, has spread to all parts of the world, especially Kurdistan, with the support of Turkish intellectuals in Istanbul. On 18 November, the Gemlik Freedom March reached its goal despite all obstacles, and a message of insistence on freedom was sent from Gemlik to the whole world.

The initiatives and applications by artists and lawyers made the isolation more visible; between 01-15 February, the cities of Northern Kurdistan were illuminated with the torch of the ‘Freedom Walkers’, and on 8 March and 21 March the determination for freedom reached its peak with the witnessing of millions. The resistance of the prisoners against isolation, who participated in every moment of the campaign with great sacrifices, was enlarged with the ‘Give voice to freedom’ actions in front of the prisons, the ‘End the isolation’ actions in front of the AKP buildings, and the ‘Ensure justice, implement law’ actions in front of the Ministry of Justice. The ‘Freedom Readings’ led by women and youth have been held in hundreds of neighbourhoods, streets and villages throughout the summer.

As of today, we are bringing a new stage to the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign. Our Freedom March, which focuses on achieving results in the struggle of the Kurdish people to ‘protect their existence and ensure their freedom’, will be further expanded with the campaign ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’, which we will carry out from 12 September to 13 October. In this context, we invite all democratic forces in Kurdistan and Turkey to the campaign of our Freedom March, which we have started to defeat the 9 October International conspiracy and the conspirators, to shatter the İmralı Torture system and to achieve a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, which will last until 13 October.

Let's fight for our democratic future and freedom side by side. With this belief, determination and stubbornness, we call on all democratic, revolutionary forces and social opposition of the geography to our campaign, which we have launched with the slogan ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’ and which we will conclude with a big rally to be held in Amed on 13 October. On the 26th anniversary of the International Conspiracy, we will carry the struggle for solution and freedom to every time and place where life flows. With our campaign that we will continue for a month, we will once again shout freedom against the slavery impositions of the conspirators and say ‘Never without freedom! Let victory be our promise: The putschists, conspirators and those who insist on isolation will lose, and freedom will win!”

TURKISH KURDISTAN

Bakırhan: We struggle against a government that is hostile to forests, rivers and mountains

Speaking at an ecology conference in Balıkesir, DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan said, “Let's get rid of this government that is dragging us into the abyss and bringing Turkey to the brink of destruction.”


ANF
BALIKESİR
Sunday, 29 September 2024, 15:12


The Peoples' Democracy and Equality Party (DEM Party) Balıkesir Provincial Organisation is holding a conference on ecological destruction.

The ‘Balıkesir Ecology Conference’ is taking place at Reha Yurdakul Cultural Centre in Burhaniye district with the participation of DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan, many residents from Balıkesir as well as neighbouring provinces.

The conference opened with the screening of Hakan Tosun's documentary on ecological destruction. Speaking at the opening, DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan started his speech by commemorating Reşit Kibar, who was murdered on 3 September in Borçka, Artvin while trying to protect the forests.

Reacting to the pro-rent logic of the government and capital, Tuncer Bakırhan drew attention to the ‘Bread and Justice Meetings’ they have been organising for a few months and said: “Wheat producers in Nusaybin, sunflower producers in Tekirdağ, shopkeepers, fishermen, women, youth, those who seek justice and law are all revealing the reality of the government everywhere.”

Bakırhan continued: “In addition to the struggle waged by the friends of the Kurds in the quest for democracy, the struggle waged in the Aegean region, Balıkesir and Kazdağları against ecocide is very important and valuable. The struggle in this field is at least as valuable as the struggle for democracy. I would like to thank all my friends who are fighting this struggle for their efforts.”

Criticizing the fact that the government is making it even easier to commit ecocide with omnibus bills, Bakırhan said, “The government relies on its numerical majority, it relies on its partners who think like itself. It trusts the opposition, which is not strong and serious. Since they are faced with an opposition that makes their work easier, they can do everything more easily.”

Pointing out that the government has amended the forest law 32 times in 22 years, Bakırhan said that they are struggling against a government that is hostile to forests, green, rivers, mountains, resisting Kurds and women.

Bakırhan stated: “I am saying it here for the first time. They are preparing a new law proposal for mining companies, which are constantly trying to propose new laws to the government in order to have easier access, to obtain licences more easily and to obtain more rent. They want there to be no administrative obstacles in front of them. They are already overcoming the obstacles in some way, but they want to eliminate them altogether. Our job is difficult, but 80 percent of Turkey thinks like us. We have only one shortcoming. We are unable to organise, to come together, to build a strong ground against this savage capital, the palace, the ecocidal power that works for war.”

Remarking that 155 mining companies in Balıkesir received 279 mining exploration-operation licences, Bakırhan concluded as follows: “Therefore, all the districts of Balıkesir are in the same situation and Kazdağları has become a centre of gold mining. There are several foreign and local companies. Whether goreign or domestic, the aim of the companies is rent. These companies are so reckless that they work to obtain the highest rent at the lowest cost, just like the capitalist system does. Where should those people who are engaged in animal husbandry, agriculture, fruit and vegetables go? No one cares about this, the government does not care at all. Then we should not care about this government either. Let's get rid of this government that is dragging us into the abyss and bringing Turkey to the brink of destruction.”

‘Isolation and political solution in the Middle East’ conference at the Labour University of Geneva

A conference in Geneva discussed the absolute isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution in the Middle East with a focus on Kurdistan and Palestine.


ANF
GENEVA
Sunday, 29 September 2024, 14:30

As the total isolation imposed on Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan enters its fourth year, the "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question" initiative launched by the friends of Kurds worldwide on 10 October 2023, continues with various events.

As part of the events to be held in October, a conference on Kurdistan, the situation of Kurdish women and isolation was held in Geneva on Saturday.

The conference ‘For a political solution in the Middle East: Palestine, Kurdistan - Intifada, Serhildan‘, organised by the Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Centre (NCDK-Ge) and the Swiss Kurdish Women's Union (YJK-S), was held at the Amphitheatre of the Labour University of Geneva (Université ouvrière de Genève).


The conference, which was supported by the Communist Revolutionary Party (PCR) and the internationalist Serhildan (Uprising) Network, was attended by HDP MP Ayşe Acar Başaran, PCR representative Luc Rolli, activist Nadina from the Solidarity Committee for Rojava and a representative from the Solidarity Network for Palestine.

The conference started with a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs of the world revolution.

Ayşe Acar Başaran, who made the first speech at the conference, referred to the international conspiracy against Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, which started on 9 October 1998, and made a presentation on the system of absolute isolation and torture that has been going on in İmralı High Security Prison, where Öcalan is held, for 25 years.

Ayşe Acar Başaran stated that the torture of isolation in İmralı under the supervision of international states has spread to the whole country. She said: “The occupation of Kurdistan and the genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people are continued today with attacks against Kurdish politics, Kurdish language, nature, women and children.”

Referring to the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign, which was launched globally by the friends of the Kurdish people on 10 October 2023 against all these attacks carried out on the basis of isolation, occupation and genocide, Ayşe Acar Başaran said, “At this stage, internationalist solidarity must be increased. Every support from the friends of the Kurdish people will make this campaign a success.”

The conference continued with a presentation by Luc Rolli, representative of the PCR (Communist Revolutionary Party).

Luc Rolli said that the capitalist system and especially NATO, which acts under the control of the USA, sends peoples to war in order to expand its sphere of influence.

Rolli stated that the genocidal attacks carried out by the Turkish and Israeli governments for decades are the Third World War waged by the capitalist powers against the peoples of the world and especially the Middle East.

Emphasising that the Rojava Revolution created by the Kurdish Freedom Struggle and the struggle of the Palestinian people have created a spirit of resistance against the capitalist system, Rolli added the following: “These struggles will secure the right to self-determination of the peoples in the Middle East and pave the way for democratic and social confederalism that will lead to the liberation of the peoples of the Middle East and the whole world.”

Luc Rolli's presentation was followed by the second part of the conference, where presentations were made by the activists of the Committee for Solidarity with Rojava and the Network for Solidarity with Palestine.

After the question and answer session, posters of Abdullah Öcalan were raised by the participants as part of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign and the conference was concluded.

Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan initiative in Cologne

"We are launching a Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan," said TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn adding that they will hold a big event at the Cologne Dom Cathedral.


ANF
COLOGNE


TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn will hold a big event for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Cologne, tomorrow.

Performers, painters, theater actors and folk dance actors will participate in the event titled "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan". The event will be held in front of the Dom Cathedral between 1 and 5 pm.

Speaking to ANF, Hozan Şemdîn said: "Singers and musicians will attend the event with their own instruments. We will all wear national clothes. Our painters will exhibit their paintings. We invite all our people to this event."

Hozan Şemdîn also said that hundreds of TEV-ÇAND members from all branches of art will be present at the event.

During the four-hour program, songs about Abdullah Öcalan and Kurdistan will be sung, and the dance groups will perform folkloric dances. In addition, information will be given about the condition of Abdullah Öcalan.

'Culture and art campaign for Abdullah Öcalan's freedom'

TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn published a joint written statement to present the event saying: "We support the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question campaign."

The statement also drew attention to 10 December, the day on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted at the United Nations in 1948.

"The 75th anniversary of this declaration will be on 10 December 2023. The Turkish state accepted this declaration in 1949. However, the inalienable human rights of the Kurds have been systematically violated by the Turkish state every day for 75 years."

The statement also underlined that Abdullah Öcalan was the theorist and philosophical leader of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and that he had been kept under heavy isolation for 24 years. "The isolation imposed on Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] is essentially an isolation imposed on his political ideas and his proposal and work to have a successful peace process. Isolation is illegal and is a form of torture. In order to break the isolation, we are launching the 'Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan'."

The statement pointed out that Kurdish literature, history, music and art are denied and banned by the Turkish state and said: "This is cultural genocide. All kinds of oppressive violence are applied to the Kurdish people and unlimited assimilation policies are implemented. All of these are crimes. We reject this cultural genocide. We are fighting for it to end."

The joint statement ended as follows: "As Kurdistan artists, we do not accept the isolation imposed on Rêber Apo. We declare that we will participate with our art in the events organized to break the isolation and achieve Rêber Apo's physical freedom."

KURDISH LIBERATION STRUGGLE

PYD Congress: There can be no solution without the liberation of our lands and unity of Syrian lands

The co-chairs of the PYD stated that the struggle continues with the philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan and that the lands occupied by the Turkish state must be liberated for the achievement of a political solution to the Syrian crisis.


ANF
HESEKÊ
Saturday, 21 September 2024,

The 10th Congress of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) continues in Hesekê city with the participation of 700 delegates.

PYD Co-Chair Salih Muslim congratulated the people of the region and Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan on the occasion of the party's 10th congress and said, “We have been marching on since 2003. Our freedom march continues. We have faced many difficulties. We have managed to be the pioneer of the people of the region and we still are, and we continue to claim the blood of our martyrs.”

‘WE ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH THE PHILOSOPHY OF OUR LEADERSHIP’

Drawing attention to Abdullah Öcalan's philosophy, Muslim said, “We have analysed the history of the peoples and learned important lessons from it. We have seen that the enemies of the people take advantage of separatism and use the peoples as a means of opportunity. In this regard, the philosophy of our leader put forward the democratic nation as the basic element of the brotherhood of peoples. This idea, which is a light for all the peoples of the region, stands before us as a solution to all problems.”

Salih Muslim stated that their aim in the conflict process in Syria was to improve the situation of the people in every region and said, “Our aim during the conflict in Syria was to change the situation of the people in every field and make them more comfortable. After 13 years of war, it became clear that our party's line has been the pioneer of the revolution in Syria. The war in Syria has become the centre of the third world war. Our people have successfully passed this test. Our torch illuminates our path. We promised our leader and our people that all our gains would be for the benefit of our people. As long as we are committed to our leader and martyrs, victory will be our people's.”

KURDISH UNITY
Muslim pointed out that the solution to the conflict in Syria is possible through Democratic Self-Government. Remarking that the basis of their work is the management of the people and social diplomacy, Muslim said, “We have held many meetings for the parties to ensure the unity of the Kurdish parties. We want to build Kurdish unity. Our dialogues continue. We are trying to form a common view of all parties from the beginning to the end.”

Regarding the conflict in Syria, Muslim said, “We are here. They have tried to keep us away from the beginning. Since 2005, until the situation in Syria reached this point, there have been some parties who wanted to keep us away from dialogue. We are still part of the dialogue, trying to implement the solution. Our party will remain a pioneer. Everyone should know that our job is to realise a democratic change in the Middle East.”

‘WE PROTECT THE GAINS’

Speaking after, PYD Co-Chair Asya Abdullah stated that they held the 10th congress in a sensitive and difficult process, noting that regional and global tensions also affected their regions.

Asya Abdullah saluted the resistance of the defence forces and said, “The YPG and YPJ made great sacrifices. The gains achieved are protected today under the leadership of the SDF.”

Pointing out that the maps put on the tables are not solutions, Asya Abdullah continued: “Projects are being produced at the expense of the people, at the expense of denying their history. Afrin, Girê Spî and Serêkaniyê are under occupation. Now, the opposition has also become a part of it. Our duty is to liberate the occupied territories and ensure a free and dignified life. There can be no solution without the liberation of our lands and the unity of Syrian lands.”

REACTION TO TORTURE IN IMRALI

Drawing attention to the torture and genocide system applied against Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Island Prison where has been held since 1999, Asya Abdullah said, “The isolation has been going on for 3 years. We will develop the struggle for the physical freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan and a solution to the Kurdish question in every field.”

Asya Abdullah remarked that national unity is one of the political strategies of the PYD and added: “It is our duty to protect the national line within the framework of a democratic strategy and to protect the rights of the Kurdish people. We are ready to play a leading role in building democracy for the Kurds in Syria and a decentralised Syria. The unity of Kurdish political movements in every field is important. We will continue our struggle to achieve this.”

A cinevision about the activities of the PYD was screened at the congress, which continues with speeches.

The Enemy Next Door: Achilles and Hector

by Evaggelos VallianatosFacebook

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The Greek superhero Achilles, left, is killing the Trojan superhero Hector (Homer, Iliad, bk 22). Painting by Evi Sarantea.

I have been studying Greek history for a very long time. In fact, I learned ancient and medieval Greek history at the University of Illinois and received a doctorate in modern Greek and European history at the University of Wisconsin. I wrote my dissertation on Adamantios Koraes whom I consider the father of the Greek Revolution of 1821. Koraes working from Paris, kept reminding the Greeks under Turkish occupation in the early 19^th century that they were the children of the ancient Greeks whose civilization had created the modern world. This inspired them to throw the Turks out of their country and, eventually, become independent and free.

Beginnings

In 1828, the European great powers, Russia, France, and England sent Ioannes Kapodistrias to Greece as the first President of the country. Kapodistrias was an outstanding diplomat, perhaps the best in Europe. He worked for the Tzar of Russia. He was responsible for the independence and neutrality of Switzerland. He also prevented the dismemberment of France after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. From 1816 to 1822, he was the Foreign Minister of Russia. But in addition to his understanding of the Europeans, Kapodistrias was a Greek patriot that tried to create a Greek state independent of local parties and foreign influence. He organized the Greek army, expanded and settled the borders of the new country, and otherwise set the foundations for the rule of law and the betterment of life of all the people of Greece. This displeased the few Greek landowners and foreign powers, especially England and France, which funded his assassination on September 27, 1831.

Foreign influence

The killing of Kapodistrias darkened modern Greek history. The European powers installed a German king to govern the country, thus doing away with democracy in Greece and the political independence of the country. Instead of building up the strength of Greece, the emerging Greek politicians, schooled in the ways of Europe and America, took the easy and profitable way of becoming the lobbyists of foreign governments. They still are – in 2024. They are responsible for the perpetual decline of the country.

This political crisis became acute during the Obama administration. The American financial tsunami of 2008 sent seismic signs to Greece. The Greek Statistical Authority came under the control of a man from the International Monetary Fund, an agency of the Department of the Treasury of the United States. This man manipulated Greek statistics and raised the country’s deficit from 6 to 12.5 percent of the GDP. This fraud had serious consequences. In 2009, Prime Minister George Papandreou dumped Greece to the Troika: European Union, European Central Bank, and America’s International Monetary Fund, supposedly to fix the finances of the country. This turned out to be a hostile act. It put foreigners on the wheels of the Greek state. The country has been under European and American bureaucratic occupation ever since. The bureaucrats of the EU-IMF used the money Greece borrowed from them not to invest in Greece but to save bankrupt German, French and American banks. Greece was put on a diet of austerity that resembled the German occupation of Greece, April 1941- October 1944. Moreover, the foreign debt rulers started selling off the assets of Greece: airports and telephones to Germany, the harbor of Piraeus to China, railroads to Italy. Cowboy capitalism impoverished town and village alike. And despite the 30,000,000 tourists who visit Greece every year, spending billions in the country, the Greek government is by no means supportive of Greek manufacturing, even selling off to foreigners its defense industry.

However, there may be rays of hope in the reorganization of the defense industry.

“Greece’s re-armament program,” says the Greek reporter Spyridon Plakoudas, “which may exceed 11.5. billion euros by 2025, will offer its defense industries new contracts with the Ministry of Defense. In fact, local defense companies have supplied the Greek military with made-in-Greece weaponry such as drones and speedboats in growing numbers from late 2020 onwards – a trend that will only be reinforced in the near future. This program also will involve allied states with established defense industries – most notably, Israel, France, the UAE, and the U.S. Either as investors… or as partners in the co-production of key weapons such as new frigates… in [Greek] Shipyards, these countries can act as a force multiplier for the still-nascent Greek defense industry.”

The enemy next door

The enemy next door, Turkey, is watching. With 40,000 soldiers on northern Cyprus, Turkey’s appetite is expanding for the capture of the rest of Cyprus and possibly Greece. Turkey is building up its navy, a policy disturbing its neighbors, Israel and Greece. Turkey refuses to even recognize the Democratic Republic of Cyprus, a member of the United Nations and European Union. And neither the government of Athens or Leukosia have complained to the EU or the United Nations or taken Turkey to the International Court of Justice for Turkey’s genocidal policies against the Greeks of the occupied territory of Cyprus. For 50 years the Turks have committed war crimes, cleansing, rapes, killings, and genocide in northern Cyprus. The incomprehensive reluctance of Greece and Greek Cyprus to face the truth of what Turkey is and what it plans to do, emboldens Turkey. They should have a strategy to free Cyprus of the Turkish menace and be ready to fight and defeat Turkey.

America’s fear of Russia and Turkey

Erdogan cares less about NATO, to which the US recruited Turkey and Greece in the 1950s. Erdogan, however, understands America’s fear of Russia. Like other Turkish leaders before him, he must have told American policy makers Turkey will stay at NATO as long as America gives him all that he asks: money, advanced military technologies, and Greek territory. After all, Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 only after President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 ordered Greece to withdraw its army from Cyprus. And as if the US wanted to reward Turkey for staying in NATO, in 1959, it moved 50 nuclear bombs to the Incirlik Turkish air force base.

This American-Turkish connection freezes the leaders of Greece who have already gone through the humiliations of the debt during the Obama administration. They are already the lobbyists of foreign powers and face the rapidly growing military power of Turkey. They are afraid to go to China and India, for example, to ask those countries to assist them strengthening the military power of Greece to match and exceed that of Turkey, which America will not do because of NATO and concerns and fear of Turkey.

American policy makers must feel terrified about the fate of their nuclear bombs in a Turkish air force base. Can they take the weapons out of Turkey? This is a Moslem country of long-standing policies of genocide and atrocities, with ambitions of empire. What will the Turks do if they suspect Americans may remove the bombs? Will they capture the weapons and kill the American soldiers guarding them? Such a prospect will spark a major war between America and Turkey with certain catastrophic consequences for Turkey and the Aegean and the Mediterranean. No one is talking about this Gordian Knot that President Dwight Eisenhauer tied during the intense fear of annihilation of the Cold War, in 1959. There’s no doubt, the US should bring those weapons back home.

Turkey and Greece

However, in 2024, Turkey is acting like a superpower. It is fighting the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. NATO remains silent to the Turkish genocide against the Kurds and against the Greeks in northern Cyprus. And the government of Greece is also silent about this and other Turkish threats, particularly Turkey’s push toward the Greek Aegean islands. “Turkey,” said Greek reporters, “claimed to be “suffocating” by the proximity to its shores of the Eastern Aegean islands and the Dodecanese under Greek sovereignty… Turkish strategy toward Greece has focused on “breaking the encirclement” and laying claim to half of the Aegean Sea. The “Blue Homeland” is projected as a springboard for geopolitical claims and has quickly become extremely popular among the ranks of the Turkish Armed Forces…. With the “Blue Homeland” we now have a complete picture of Turkish claims. It is a nationalist, revisionist and aggressive ideology. A ticking time bomb… As has happened in the past with the neighboring country’s claims, if we let them mature, they will be magnified, giving Turkey the confidence to create illegal faits accomplis, like the Turkish-Libyan pact.”

In fact, Turkish officials and Erdogan are already saying that the Greek islands in the Aegean belong to them. Turkey is teaching its elementary school children that the “blue homeland” (the Aegean Sea) is theirs. Greece remains silent to these provocations risking her sovereignty. The Turks interpret Greek silence to acceptance of their virulent ideology. Turkey then demands more of Greece. Neither NATO, nor the UN, nor the EU, nor the US are protesting and challenging these deadly Turkish threats preparing the ground for war against Greece.

Greek assets

Rather than playing the game of cat and mouse with the enemy next door, Greece can transform herself to her ancient traditions of courage and freedom and knowledge that would make the country invincible. Keep developing the defense industry at home and collaborate with Israel, France and other countries that can increase Greek skills and technologies beneficial to national defense. If Erdogan dares to attack any of the Greek islands, Greece and Cyprus must be ready to fight and win over Turkey.

At the same time light up a Renaissance to prepare the Greek people to understand who they are. Punish or ostracize those Greeks who hate Greece. Shut down or severely restrict the political activities of Greeks who are foreign lobbyists. Read the books of your ancestors in the schools. Teach ancient Greek to all Greek students from preschool to college. Teach them also Greek mythology, poetry, literature, philosophy, history, and science. Use the money from tourism to improve Greek archaeology, and the explanations tourists must have to appreciate what they see in the museums and archaeological sites. Tourists are potential Philhellenes. They could become a tremendous asset for the defense of Greece. They are potential Greek ambassadors in their countries.

Help to reverse the industrialization of Greek agriculture. Help peasants to keep producing food in their villages. Stop the interaction with the EU programs of homogenization of the countryside. Greek culture and climate change and good food demand the end of the use of toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, the use of large tractors and other petroleum-burning machines. Replace all these ecocidal technologies with domesticated bulls, horses, mules, and donkeys.

Become the school of Europe and the cultural capital of the world. Educate the millions of tourists visiting the country about those who built ancient Greece, particularly the founders of civilization: those who like Euclid and Archimedes created mathematics and Homer who wrote the beautiful and immortal epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Teach students, non-students, tourists about Aristotle who invented science and taught Alexander the Great.

Such a Renaissance takes time. The Arabs created their culture in the 8^th to 10^th centuries from studying translated copies of Greek philosophical and scientific works. They nearly worshipped Aristotle whom they called The Philosopher. The Europeans did the same thing in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Modern Greeks must follow up with the ideas of their ancestors now, in 2024 and several years after. Such an acquaintance with Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras, the tragic poets (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Euclid, Archimedes, Hipparchos, Plutarch, Ptolemaios, and Galen will make Greece the superpower it has always been.

In a Greece of light, Turkey, if it exists at all, will pose no threat. Like other neighboring countries, it will be seeking enlightenment rather than war. Hector died at the hands of Achilles.

Evaggelos Vallianatos, Ph.D., studied history and biology at the University of Illinois; earned his Ph.D. in Greek and European history at the University of Wisconsin; did postdoctoral studies in the history of science at Harvard. He worked on Capitol Hill and the US EPA; taught at several universities and authored several books, including The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story Behind the Genius of the Greek Computer and its Demise. He is the author of Earth on Fire: Brewing Plagues and Climate Chaos in Our Backyards, forthcoming by World Scientific, Spring 2025.

KURDISTAN

Kalkan: Destroying nature is the origin of every form of oppression and exploitation

Duran Kalkan called for participation in the 32nd Kurdish Culture Festival to be held in Frankfurt.


ANF
BEHDINAN
Sunday, 8 September 2024

Duran Kalkan, member of the KCK Executive Council, talked about the importance of 1 September, the ecocide carried out by Turkey, and the festival in Frankfurt,

On 1 September, Peace World Day, millions of people around the world took to the streets to demand an end to the war. Most people are talking about the genocidal war in Gaza or the war in Ukraine, but the war here in Kurdistan is also in the spotlight. What would you like to say to the people who are campaigning for peace on the streets?

1 September was actually a day of war. They called it ‘International Day of Peace’, but on 1 September 1939, Hitler’s fascism crossed the border and attacked Poland. That’s how the so-called World War II started. That is to say, the catastrophic war that lasted 6 years and killed more than 50 million people started with Hitler’s attack on 1 September 1939. In order to reverse this, socialist, progressive, democratic circles declared a day of peace.

Again today, there are calls for peace, but as you mentioned, there is a war. And it has been going on for years, decades. There is no end to it in sight. How can we talk about peace in such a war environment? Only if you fight a big war for peace can it have a meaning. Otherwise, no one will give up the war by saying, “I want peace; peace is good; everyone should give up the war.” War will not end like this. However, those who oppose the war, those who want peace, must wage a struggle for freedom and democracy against this war so that there can be peace. Peace can only come with democracy and freedom.

Can there be peace where there is no freedom and democracy? Of course not. So it is necessary to win freedom and democracy and to fight for them. This is the biggest war for peace. In today’s situation, we should not talk about peace but about the war for peace. It is obvious that the greatest pioneer, leader, representative, and solution force of the war for freedom and democracy is Rêber Apo. Those who want to do so must see this leadership. They must unite with his struggle. Especially in Turkey, this should be the case. Turkey is in dire need of peace. The anti-Kurdish mentality and system, most recently the AKP-MHP fascism, has turned Turkey into the most unrestrained, unethical, and unlawful country in the Kurdish war. In order to put a stop to this, it is, of course, necessary to impose peace in Turkey. And how can this be done? We need to impose freedom and democracy. There can be no peace without Kurdish freedom, without the democratization of Turkey. These are intertwined like fingernails and toenails. In order to win peace, we need to mobilize for the war for freedom and democracy, for the antifascist war.

All peace lovers should be involved in such a great antifascist resistance and struggle; they should develop an antifascist resistance front or unity and alliance and develop a great struggle for freedom and democracy that aims to overthrow AKP-MHP fascism. In particular, Turkey needs this more than bread and water. The power to realize this is the Kurds. They struggle with everything they have for freedom and democracy. They do not only want freedom for Kurds; they want democracy for Turkey, the Middle East, and the world. This means the struggle for peace. The pioneer of this is Rêber Apo. Turkey’s freedom and democracy forces, women, and youth movements must unite more strongly in this struggle. Everyone who says they are anti-fascist should recognize this reality, unite with these forces, grow and develop the anti-fascist movement, and try to save Turkey from this AKP-MHP disaster.

It is interesting that some people still keep saying, “There will be war.” For example, Tayyip Erdoğan said, “World War III may happen in the future; we need to prepare for it.” But the Third World War is already a reality. War has been happening for decades. How can people not see this? How did the First World War end? It ended with the October Revolution. The Second World War developed in an environment that was different. But it was the October Revolution and the Soviet Union that brought the capitalist modernity system out of its internal contradictions, conflicts, and wars in order to redivide the world and exploit it more. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, and the war started again. We call it the Third World War. This is how Rêber Apo evaluated it. In 1990, there was the Gulf Crisis and the war, which has been going on ever since.

If people are not involved in war, if they do not experience it, they do not understand it. When there is a different situation sometimes, they fall into the situation of evaluating it according to themselves. We need to get rid of this. Some say “preparations are still being made.” Some say it started with Ukraine. It is not like that. There has been World War III for 35 years, since the beginning of 1990. It has been going on all over the Middle East. Those who are curious should open the books of the history of war; wherever World War I took place, they will see that World War III is now also going on there. From Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, and Syria to all the Ottoman lands, all of them are at war again. What is called World War III is actually a search to bring World War I, which ended differently with the October Revolution, to a new conclusion, taking into account the 100 years of development after the collapse of the system created by the October Revolution.

At that time, the searches of those who started the war did not come to a conclusion because of the October Revolution. Neither the aims of the German-Ottoman front nor those of the Anglo-French front and their alliances came to any conclusion. Because an alternative was born in Russia. They were afraid of it and had to make different compromises among themselves to prevent it. Also, the Turkish Republic was born in this environment, and this is how the Treaty of Lausanne was formed. They think that they fought very well, celebrated, and won victories. There is no such thing. They made good use of the conjunction. They evaluated the politics well. The Kemalist movement also showed some resistance. It achieved this result under those conditions. But the conditions of 1923 will never happen again. Tayyip Erdoğan is focused on this time period. He is reading Abdulhamid and is trying to see if something like that will happen again. He wants to become a second Abdulhamid or a second Mustafa Kemal, but in vain.

The war in other areas, the war in Ukraine, is the spread of war to the Black Sea. World War I had already spread. Pacific tensions and conflicts are linked to these. There are those who analyze this war who say that World War II ended with the use of the atomic bomb. They say that the next World War will only happen if the atomic bomb is used. But nuclear bombs are already being used everywhere at the tactical level. They just need to look at what is going on in Zap.

This is how this war is going. This is what happens in Gaza. They are sacrificing the Palestinian people here. Now they say this war will spread to Lebanon and Syria. Every place that was a center of war in World War I is today again a center of war in the Middle East. And this is gradually moving towards Turkey. It is eventually going to focus on Turkey. Some people in Turkey saw this; they understand it. They are aware of this. To prevent this, they are trying to provoke an Israeli-Iranian war. They already started an Israeli war with Hamas, and now they are trying to provoke a Hezbollah-Israel war. They are trying with all their might to prevent the war from approaching Turkey, but in vain. They will not be able to do so. Let’s make this clear. This war will come; Turkey is going to be a center of war. The only thing that will save Turkey from this situation is democratization on the basis of Kurdish freedom and creating democratic unity with the peoples of the region, organizing a democracy front, a peace front against this war by forming the democratic Middle East confederalism. This is the only way for Turkey to survive. No one can get out of this war in any other way. Like Tayyip Erdoğan, by expanding into Syria and Iraq, one can plunge into war. Those waging this war are actually using Tayyip Erdoğan as an agent. Eventually, it will be Turkey’s turn.

As I mentioned earlier, it was Rêber Apo who foresaw this. He evaluated how much damage this would cause for the peoples. He tried to prevent it, developed alternative ideas, developed political projects, and put forward the will for a solution. But he was prevented and is being prevented. The international conspiracy attack is an attack to prevent exactly this. The fact that no news has been received from Rêber Apo for 42 months is actually to make this politics work. That is why they are preventing even a word of Rêber Apo from coming out in order to prevent the development that will prevent this catastrophe. Everyone should be aware of this. You cannot just say we want peace. This is serious. Everyone should come to their senses. Let’s understand capitalism correctly. Let’s understand the internal relations of the capitalist modernity system correctly. Let’s open, read, and analyze the first World War. 100 years of developments… I mean, what is Turkey’s place to stand up to Israel and launch a new energy route project against Israel? The most extreme point of capital is Israel. The US, the UK, they are all behind it.

In this respect, the current situation requires a more accurate understanding. In the reality of this World War, we should not be confused like this. Everyone should stop saying, “There will be preparations; it will come later, this and that.” The danger is great. We are fighting to prevent the danger from having more serious consequences and, if possible, to achieve peace and democracy. Everyone should understand this. Those who really want this should give strength and support to this. This is our promise, our call, our invitation.

While the genocidal war is being waged by the fascist Turkish state, nature continues to be targeted and exploited. It is something that is often overlooked or perceived as a separate problem, even though there is resistance in some places. What can you tell us about this?

The exploitation of man and the exploitation of nature are forms of oppression that go hand in hand. Fascist terror, the oppression and exploitation of the male-dominated mentality and system on women, means attacks and exploitation against nature. On the other hand, this means that ensuring the free coexistence of society, democratic self-administration, and the freedom of women is the basis for living peacefully in harmony with nature. Destroying nature is the origin of every form of oppression and exploitation: fascist dictatorship, the male-dominated system, and aggression to the maximum. This is how it should be handled. So, just as we want women’s freedom, we want the freedom of society, we want democracy – and this can only be realized through a correct approach to nature. Accordingly, we need to mobilize against the attacks that destroy, plunder, burn, and destroy our atmosphere and nature. They are building hydroelectric power plants; they are mining; they have made the country uninhabitable; society has become unable to produce; it is being poisoned. How can we live without air, without opportunities for economic production, without soil, environment, and greenery? These are being destroyed for the maximum profit of some people. This must not be allowed to happen. Everyone must resist this. We need to become more conscious. Social ecology movements, consciousness, organization, and action must develop more.

We attach great importance to every stance and struggle on this basis. All our people, all the peasants, all the villagers, all the kocers, wherever they are, must protect their own lands, their own assets as they protect their own lands. It is absolutely necessary not to allow this fascist, colonialist, genocidal system to plunder nature.

We salute all the struggles carried out on this basis. Everyone who calls themselves free and democratic should support and participate. This struggle still remains weak. In most places the struggle takes place quite isolated, but particularly the villagers are carrying out a very valuable and meaningful resistance. They need more solidarity and support. Everyone who considers themselves libertarian, democratic socialist, and democratic should protect these places more than anything else. Priority should be here.

Social freedom on the basis of women’s freedom and protecting nature are intertwined. In this respect, it is necessary to overcome the current weak approaches, to make the ecological struggle more organized and effective in every field, and to wage the war against fascism much more effectively from this front.

Our call is directed towards all women, all our people, all the peoples of Turkey. Because AKP-MHP fascism is not only anti-human, anti-people, anti-women, and anti-Kurdish, but it is also an enemy of nature, an enemy of forests, and an enemy of land. This animosity must be stopped.

Finally, I would like to talk about the Kurdish Cultural Festival in Frankfurt, which is also coming up in the near future. What do you have to say about it?

We can define the importance of the 32nd Kurdish Culture Festival in Frankfurt in terms of timing. We are approaching the end of the first year of our global campaign for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. It is an action that takes place at a time when the anniversary is approaching, which gives it more meaning.

The cultural festival has become an important tradition within the last decades. Through the festival, the Kurds always asserted their existence, presented themselves to the peoples of Europe, and spread their culture. They expressed their democratic demands. But this year’s festival is also an action that marks the first anniversary of our global freedom campaign. It is necessary to organize accordingly. We have to work harder; we have to attach more importance to it. Our people and our friends in Europe should definitely define it in this way, and they should embrace and mobilize accordingly.

They must make our global freedom campaign reach a new peak. The biggest duty and responsibility in this falls on the youth. Of course. The youth are already in constant action for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. They are starting a long march before the festival, and they are preparing the festival as well as the environment for it. They are leading the way.

This is important and, of course, meaningful. All young people, Kurdish youth and international youth, all our young friends, and young comrades should see the meaning and importance of this and accordingly make their marches the most spectacular, with the widest participation, with the most concrete demands, and not only that, that is, they should participate most actively in the preparatory work for the festival at the leading level.

I am calling for participation in the festival, and I celebrate it. I especially call on the Kurdish youth and the international youth to mobilize for such a festival to be the most spectacular.