Bahoz Erdal, one of the commanders of the People's Defense Central Headquarters Command, evaluated the special psychological war carried out by the Turkish state when he joined a program on Stêrk TV.

Erdal assessed how this war has changed from the beginning to the present day and drew some important conclusions and warnings.

Stating that the war is not between the Turkish army and the guerrilla, Erdal also underlined the embargo, spying activities, arrests, fear environment and the responsibilities of the families.

Erdal said that every Kurdish family has become a battle front.

Turkish psychological war

Erdal underlined how the Turkish state aims at creating a suspicion environment especially through the special war it is waging against Kurds.

He continued: “We can call the special war carried out by the Turkish state a propaganda war. The purpose of this propaganda is to dehumanize the freedom struggle of our people, to break the faith of the people on their own strength, to create a psychology of despair. Likewise, in the eyes of the public, they want to show the state as mighty and invulnerable. They want to portray the state as an invincible force in our people's minds. This special war propaganda has not been carried out only in recent years, in fact it dates back to the foundation of the Republic. This special war with genocide of our people as its main axis, has been systematically carried out.

This particular war is directed at lying and deceiving, creating ambiguity in our people minds and creating suspicion on the struggle”.

Guerillas, a revolutionary force

Underlining that special warfare and psychological warfare are carried out with very dirty methods, Bahoz Erdal evaluated the methods and results implemented in recent years as follows:

“During the AKP government, the Turkish state once again carried out special war and psychological warfare with very different dirty methods. This period can be evaluated as divided into two different processes. First, the fascist AKP power wanted to create confusion showing our people they were fighting against different ideas. It was trying to fool our people into believing that in fact they were trying to solve the problem, but obstacles were put in front of them. It therefore showed the army, as being the first obstacle, and subsequently it targeted the Gülen community and, finally, it showed foreign powers as an obstacle to the solution of the issue.

In summary, the AKP tried to present itself as a government that accepts Kurdish identity. This perception lasted till 2015, and the government continued its systematic operations.

Since 2015, there was a swift: the AKP was saying at this point: I am the state and the power, I have a great army and advanced war technique. You have no power or opportunity to fight against us.

Certainly, in both processes, some of our people may have been affected by these special war attacks. However, this did not last too long. Because the current approaches and attacks of the occupying forces are obvious. The guerrilla is a revolutionary force. The guerrilla knows well the reality of the current enemy. The guerillas believe in their own strength, tactics and strategy. But there is a possibility that the enemy may have some impact on our society.

Erdal then drew attention to the intense activity and attempts to recruit informants and agents by the Turkish state including through an infiltration into patriotic families.

“Since the Ottoman Empire, said Erdal - the Turkish state has tried to put Kurds against Kurds. Although the Kurdistan Freedom Guerrilla has exposed this reality and in this sense, our people have been warned and the fascist methods have failed, the Turkish state once again insists on this method. The village guard system has been defeated in Kurdistan and is now a burden on the shoulders of the Turkish state”.

Patriotic families have a responsibility in fighting against this informant policy

Addressing the patriotic families and warning them against the state policy of recruiting, Erdal asked for the development of the necessary sensitivity and measures.

“Patriotic families have great responsibilities. - said Erdal - The AKP, together with Ergenekon, created special forces. Like in the past, the Turkish state has created dark and dangerous forces to use against Kurds. Not coincidentally they were also the ones who trained DAESH in Syria, improving their battle tactics.

We believe that our people will see all of these, will develop the necessary sensitivity and measures. From the legal work area, everyone from non-governmental organizations to villages should be sensitive to this issue”.

Erdal added: “We have 35 years of war experience against the Turkish army. Even if we have a hard time, even in military sense, today the freedom guerrilla movement is not only the guerrilla of Kurdistan, it is the guerrilla of the entire Middle East. The guerrilla has reached such power that the Turkish army's power is not enough to weaken the them. In the political sense, the Kurdish people have a certain experience. Although sometimes problems and mistakes occur, the Kurds also learned politics. But what is most dangerous for our people at the moment is the special war which is being carried out systematically. This particular war is the most dangerous one, and therefore people need to pay special attention to it”.

Families must protect their children

Urging Kurdish families to protect their children, Erdal said that some families “have made a tremendous betrayal against their children and their Kurdish identities”.

Erdal said: “Our families should take care of their children, but they must take care of them correctly. Some of the young people joining us, for example, say: ‘Our parents didn't allow us to watch Kurdish channels’. Why? Because they think that if their children watch Kurdish channels, they will be influenced by guerrilla and freedom struggle.

Another example is that of some mothers and fathers who speak Turkish in the house. “Learn Turkish early, so that you can succeed at school in the future and go to a good university”, say these families. They do it with good intentions. But all this is a great mistake. With this approach, families make a tremendous betrayal against their children and their identities. In this way, they are not actually protecting their children and offering them a bright future. It is their desire to make the best for their children that actually lead them to serve the enemy, despite their good intentions.”

Erdal ended his remarks by reiterating his call to be aware of the danger of actually helping the enemy - although with the best intention - to actually destroy the Kurdish culture and language.