Originally published: https://kck-info.com/statement-apr0223/

02 April 2023

We are approaching the 74th birthday of the Leadership [Abdullah Öcalan] on April 4th, which is the most meaningful day for the people of Kurdistan in the current era. We would like to congratulate all patriotic people from Kurdistan, women, youth and all oppressed peoples of the Middle East and the world on this meaningful and important day. While celebrating this day, we salute Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] who has saved the people of Kurdistan from extinction by starting the struggle for freedom. It is very important to celebrate this historical and meaningful birth, which represents rebirth and existence for the people of Kurdistan, with strong actions and events everywhere. The patriotic people of Kurdistan in the country and abroad, together with their friends, should welcome and celebrate April 4 on this basis.

April 4 has a great meaning for the people of Kurdistan. At a time when they were forced into a process of denial and annihilation under the genocidal colonial order, when they were supposed to be annihilated, when they were made to believe that the end of this process was near, Leader Apo made a historical objection and started a struggle that would reverse this process, take the people of Kurdistan out of the destructive wheel of genocidal colonialism and resurrect them. Leader Apo has devoted his entire life and existence to the development and success of this struggle and has thus become the most focused, productive and hard-working person in this struggle. With the new ideas he put forward, he has laid strong foundations for the formation of a new personality, consciousness and style in Kurdistan that overcome the colonial personality and liberates the Kurdish people and individuals. Not only has Leader Apo initiated the struggle for the liberation of the people of Kurdistan from colonialism, but with the philosophy of freedom he developed, he has also created a new individual and social reality that develop and build a free life in Kurdistan. Because of these historical features, the birth and existence of Leader Apo represents a new milestone for the people of Kurdistan.

The creators of the order of exploitation and genocide and the local, regional and international powers that benefit from it are disturbed by the struggle of Leader Apo in Kurdistan and the Middle East that liberates the peoples and eliminates exploitation. These forces carried out an international conspiracy in order to prevent this process. Leader Apo was consequently taken to the Imrali isolation and torture system, one of the most severe conditions of imprisonment in human history. But he has used the last 24 years to take revenge for all those taken as prisoners in history. He has undergone a greater focus under conditions of captivity and as a result, he has developed the manifesto of the era that will lead the peoples, women and all the oppressed to liberation. He has thus given meaning to all those taken as prisoners in history. And he has shown humanity a line of struggle and a perspective of free life that eliminate all political, social and cultural factors that created the conditions for so many people taken as prisoners. He has given meaning to every second of life and has demonstrated his stance of being the most valuable son of humanity. With this character, our Leadership has made both our people and us feel the greatest honor. All humanity, our people and ourselves owe this Leadership. It is our primary duty and responsibility to deeply understand and feel Rêber Apo, who has given all this to humanity, our people and us, and to fight for and ensure his physical freedom.

There is a need for a deeper understanding of Leader Apo and the international conspiracy. 24 years of captivity and severe isolation is the result of the Kurdish genocide policy of the genocidal colonialist Turkish state. What makes the isolation so severe is that Rêber Apo has an ideological and political stance that is anti-systemic and dries the roots of regional reaction. The international conspiratorial powers are partners not only in the conspiracy but also in the system of genocide implemented by the Turkish state. Their policies and practices show this clearly. In this respect, the policy implemented against Rêber Apo in İmralı is a policy of genocide. The international conspiracy, captivity and isolation are not only applied to a Kurdish leader. What the Kurds are facing, what the anti-Kurdish policies are and what they aim to achieve can best be understood by looking at Imrali. Whatever kind of special war is being waged in order to carry out the Kurdish genocide, these policies are also being pursued against Rêber Apo. Whatever concrete policies are being implemented on Rêber Apo at the moment, the same policies are being implemented on us as a movement and people outside. The difference lies only in the conditions and methods. We, the Kurdish people and the friends of the Kurdish people need to better understand this reality. We need to better understand the link between the captivity of the Leadership, isolation and the Kurdish genocide, and we need to have a stronger attitude and struggle against it. We must act with the awareness that the struggle for the physical freedom of Leader Apo is a struggle against the Kurdish genocide and we must therefore support Leader Apo more. We must welcome and celebrate April 4 with this awareness and stance.

The intensification of the isolation of Leader Apo by the AKP-MHP, which has an anti-Kurdish mentality and character, reveals the connection between the Kurdish genocide and isolation. The fascist AKP-MHP government represents a genocidal colonialist mentality and aims to carry out the Kurdish genocide. The anti-Kurdish character and policies of the AKP-MHP are known by everyone today. But another important reality to be known is that this is done by intensifying the isolation of Leader Apo. This approach of the AKP-MHP reveals the reality of isolation and its relation to the Kurdish genocide. We need to raise more awareness for this reality. We need to know that the struggle against the isolation is a struggle against the Kurdish genocide and that this struggle must necessarily lead to the destruction of the fascist AKP-MHP government. On this basis we need to increase the struggle against AKP-MHP fascism.

Rêber Apo does not only strive for the freedom of the Kurdish people but also for the freedom and liberation of all oppressed peoples. Because this is the way he thinks and feels, he has developed a paradigm of women’s freedom and ecological-democratic society that speaks to all humanity and affects it. Leader Apo’s paradigm based on women’s freedom and ecological mentality affects humanity wherever it is carried. The awareness that socialism cannot have a state, that socialism can exist on the basis of Democratic Confederalism, and that peoples, women and all oppressed people can be free and live in such a system affects societies in the form of one of the greatest mental revolutions in history. Since Leader Apo attaches great importance to women and their freedom, he has based his paradigm on women’s freedom and has stated that women’s freedom is the precursor of all freedoms.

Leader Apo is one of the personalities who has made the greatest efforts to overcome capitalist modernity that has created today’s sick world and who has developed the mentality and formulas for this is to happen. By developing a paradigm based on women’s freedom and ecological mentality and the line of democratic modernity, Rêber Apo has found a cure for the sick world of capitalist modernity. The paradigm and democratic modernity line developed by Leader Apo is the formula and mentality that will overcome capitalist modernity and its understanding of democracy, which serves to prolong the life of the rulers, the exploiting and ruling class. This will be the solution to the crisis and all the diseases experienced by humanity.

One of the most important ways to understand April 4th correctly and to celebrate it meaningfully is to understand Rêber Apo’s paradigm, ideology, understanding of freedom, democracy and new life more deeply and to carry it to all humanity. This is the most fundamental responsibility of every Kurdish individual. Every Kurdish individual should understand more deeply the life, stance and ideas of Rêber Apo, who has devoted his entire existence to the freedom and liberation of the people of Kurdistan, and work to carry his paradigm, which is the manifesto of the liberation of the peoples, women and the oppressed, to humanity. We need to work hard on this and develop an international sensitivity and struggle against the international conspiracy.

We would like to greet once again with respect Leader Apo, express our love and longing for him and celebrate his birth. Rêber Apo has succeeded in becoming a son worthy of humanity with his thought, stance, struggle and life. We congratulate all the patriotic people of Kurdistan, the guerrillas who are sacrificing themselves for Rêber Apo, the youth of patriotic Kurdistan, women, the peoples of the Middle East and the world on this meaningful birth. Our people and their international friends should participate strongly in the celebrations on April 4th wherever they are and plant trees wherever they live.

Co-Presidency

KCK Executive Council