KCK Executive Council co-chair Cemil Bayık participated in the Special Program broadcast on Stêrk TV and made evaluations about the developments in Kurdistan, Turkey and the Middle East.

Stating that the conference held in Lausanne on the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, which is the genocide treaty for the Kurdish people, is very important, Bayık stated that as the Kurdish Freedom Movement, they will fulfill their role in order to fulfill the decisions taken at the conference.

The isolation of the leader of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan, has reached a level that can only be described as torture. Nobody has heard anything from him for more than two years now. At the same time, the protests against Abdullah Öcalan’s isolation continue. How do you evaluate the latest developments with regards to this issue?

The policy pursued against Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] does not only concern the Kurdish people, but humanity as a whole. This is the reason why the international protests against this policy are increasing day by day. Recently, a conference during which many important decisions were taken was held in Lausanne, including the demand for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. Another example is that a few days ago in Belgium, trade unions, intellectuals and municipality members held a press conference in which they demanded the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. I would like to salute all those who made this demand and who participated in the press conference. I believe that they will play a leading role in this struggle and that they will eventually achieve their demand. I say this, because they themselves have been struggling on this basis for years.

With both the conference in Lausanne and the press conference held in Belgium, a new phase in this struggle has been opened. As a movement, we are going to take our place in this new phase. On this basis, we are going to take some new decisions in the near future. On this occasion, I would like to call on the four parts of Kurdistan and our people abroad: Every Kurd must take part in the struggle for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. Everyone knows that a very dirty war is being waged against him and that he has been in total isolation for more than two years. If the oppressive enemy succeeds with this policy, it will finalize the genocide of the Kurds. That is what they want and why they are tightening the already severe isolation of Rêber Apo. The fascist Turkish state does not recognize any humanitarian, moral or legal principles.

The forces of democracy and freedom on the international level have taken a stance against this policy that is implemented against Rêber Apo and thus against the Kurdish people as a whole. The fact that they do this through public protests makes the Turkish state uncomfortable. The state knows the importance of Rêber Apo for the Kurdish people and humanity and therefore increasing the torture of Rêber Apo gradually. Some Turkish officials have recently said some empty things. For example, Rêber Apo was apparently threatened and told that he would be killed day by day if he did not do what they wanted from him. Tuncer Kılınç [former Secretary General of the Turkish National Security Council] even said, ‘Every day in Imrali is equivalent to execution, we execute him every single day’. That is the basis of the policy pursued on Imrali. Therefore, the most important agenda for everyone must be the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. Thus, we can thwart the policy being pursued against Rêber Apo and the Kurds as a whole. This is the duty of us all.

Our people understand the policy of the Turkish state very well. Every day there is news about Rêber Apo being given a disciplinary punishment. Thus, they prevent the visits of his lawyers and family. If a person cannot meet with his family or lawyers, cannot write letters, nor anything else, how can he have committed a crime? These are purely political decisions. By representing his people and humanity as a whole, Rêber Apo wages a historic resistance against this dirty policy. That is why the Turkish state wants to achieve results based on hatred against Rêber Apo. They impose such a severe isolation so that his voice cannot reach the people. I believe that those who took part in the conference in Lausanne and the participants of the press conference in Belgium will come up with new actions for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. We as a movement will take part in this. We are going to make a public announcement accordingly in the near future.

Eight years ago, on July 24, 2015, the Turkish state launched a major attack against the Kurdish people and the South Kurdish Medya Defense Zones. These attacks have been going on uninterruptedly now for more than 8 years. In its latest statement, the HPG stated that the KDP participates in the Turkish army’s operations in the South Kurdish area of Xakurkê and in other areas as well. What can you tell us about this? How is the situation with regards to the ongoing war?

The last 8 years are very important for our struggle. Of course, we have gone through many difficult times, but in the last 8 years we have been fighting an even tougher war. The Turkish army, the second biggest army in NATO, receives all kinds of weapons and support from NATO members and other states. They use every kind of weapon when it is against the PKK and the Kurds; from chemical weapons to tactical nuclear weapons. For the last 8 years, the Turkish state has used all its means in its war against our movement. It attacks the guerrillas 24 hours a day with tanks, artillery, fighter jets and chemical weapons. The HPG recently stated that there have been more than 500 attacks a day.

The attacks on our forces are enormous and in a way unprecedented. The aim of the Turkish state is to complete its genocide against the Kurdish people. Apart from the PKK,  no other force would have been able to resist such attacks for 8 years, not even for 8 months. Rêber Apo, the guerrillas of the PKK and the Kurdish people have been putting up historic resistance in the last 8 years. Since there is great resistance, we are also paying a great price. Because the struggle we are waging is not only for ourselves, but also for the Middle East and for humanity. Despite this heavy price we have paid, we have not allowed the occupying Turkish state to achieve its goal.

They aimed to destroy the PKK and carry out a genocide against the Kurdish people on the 100th anniversary of Lausanne. But against this, Rêber Apo, the PKK and the Kurdish people are putting up a heroic resistance. On this occasion, I would like to respectfully greet all the HPG and YJA-Star guerrillas who have been fighting against the invaders in and outside the tunnels, thus waging a historical resistance. I would like to express my gratitude and congratulate them on their success.

On the other hand, there is the practice of the KDP and Barzani. All Kurds with a political awareness have expressed protest against the situation being created by the KDP and Barzani. The KDP and the Barzani family are collaborating with the Turkish state. They put all their means at the service of this genocidal state and do not see this as something wrong. They even claim to represent and serve the Kurds. But at the same time, the Turkish state martyrs Kurdish youths with the help of the KDP. Our people need to understand the relationship between Barzani’s KDP and the Turkish state well.

In Xakurkê, the Turkish state and the KDP are conducting operations against the guerrillas. In [the South Kurdish region] Zap, they [KDP forces] dress themselves in the uniforms of Turkish soldiers and fight against the guerrillas alongside the Turkish soldiers. They come out of Barzani's outpost and attack our friends [guerrilla forces]. On the day of the recent conference in Lausanne, whose aim was the development of national unity, the Barzanis carried out operations against the guerrillas alongside the Turkish state. What is the meaning of joining forces with the enemy and of carrying out operations against the guerrillas? Everyone should think about this.

There are only two lines in Kurdistan today: one is the line of freedom and the other is the line of betrayal and collaboration. The Kurds cannot side with the Turkish state, they can not shed the blood of Kurdish youth together with the Turkish state. This has nothing to do with being a Kurd. Our people need to take a stand accordingly.

On the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, all parties except the KDP came together in Lausanne. They expressed their unity in the very place where the treaty leading to the Kurdish genocide was signed. How do you evaluate this recent conference?

The recent conference in Lausanne is a step towards national unity of the Kurdish people. It has created hope not only among the Kurdish people but also among other peoples living in Kurdistan. A hundred years ago, a document was signed in Lausanne that led to the genocide of Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Assyriacs, Alevis and Ezidis. Rêber Apo has been struggling against the alliance that was forged at that time in Lausanne and has tried to show the truth of this treaty. That is what the conference that took place a few days ago has shown clearly to the world. During the conference it was stated clearly that the genocidal policy implemented since Lausanne is not going to be accepted any longer.

The Turkish state and its collaborators made great efforts to prevent the conference from taking place. But they did not have enough power to succeed. The constantly growing resistance of the Kurdish people in all parts of Kurdistan and abroad, and of the increasing number of their international friends made the conference happen.

This recent conference was very important. I would like to take this opportunity to send my greetings to all those who contributed to the conference, who took part in the decision-making process there and who will put these decisions into practice. They have achieved something historical and have thus done a great service to the Kurdish people and all the other peoples. Everybody wanted the KDP and Barzani to participate in this historic conference. Everybody wanted them to stand on the side of their people and not on the side of the occupiers on such a historic day. But they did not attend the conference because they had tied their fate to the Turkish state. All those who wanted Kurdish unity and freedom came together at the recent conference in Lausanne. It was just the Barzanis who did not come. In Lausanne, the Kurdish people organized a conference, while Barzani and his KDP were carrying out operations against the guerrillas together with the Turkish state. The Kurdish people tore up the Lausanne alliance, but Barzani tried to keep it alive. This is the meaning of their decision to side with the Turkish state and to not attend the conference.

The Treaty of Lausanne means the denial and extermination of not only the Kurdish people but of all other peoples and different beliefs in Kurdistan, which is why the people living in Kurdistan do not accept it. The decisions taken at the recent conference are important and need to be implemented. It is not enough to just take decisions, they must be followed up on. Not only the PKK, but all the peoples living in Kurdistan are responsible for this. Maybe everyone's responsibility is different, but everyone must take some form of responsibility and fulfill it. Everyone in Kurdistan and abroad needs to fulfill their duties according to their power. This should not remain limited to the conference itself. A strong step was taken at the conference a few days ago and this must be followed up on. It is necessary to do this with a variety of activities until we achieve results.

At the conference, calls were made for the physical freedom of the Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and for the Kurdish people to build an alliance among themselves and organize a national unity conference. As the biggest force in Kurdistan, what is your response to these calls?

First of all, I must state that we take all the decisions and calls made at the conference in Lausanne as a basis for our own work and will help in every way possible to put these decisions into practice. We are ready to do whatever is asked of us.

The decision taken to achieve the physical freedom of Rêber Apo is very important. Everyone had expected the conference to take such a decision, because Rêber Apo is the representative of the Kurdish people. The people want to live freely on their land and with their own identity. The central demand to achieve this is the freedom or Rêber Apo. If he is not freed from Imrali, the freedom of the Kurdish people will not be achieved and democracy will not become a reality, neither for the Kurds, nor in Turkey as a whole. Everyone who wants the Kurdish question to be solved, who wants the Kurds to live in freedom and who wants Turkey to be democratized must stand against the isolation of Rêber Apo. If they don’t, neither freedom for Kurdistan nor democracy in Turkey will be achieved. Anyone who calls themselves a democrat, socialist, artist, intellectual, anti-fascist or freedom seeker must take this demand as a basis for themselves. The measure of democracy, socialism and Kurdish identity is to stand against the isolation of Rêber Apo. There can not be any other measure. No one should deceive themselves. Based on this, the Kurdish problem and the problems of democracy in Turkey can be solved.

Another important decision of the conference was to organize a conference of Kurdish national unity. There has never been a people in the world that has been divided, dispersed, tortured and displaced as much as the Kurdish people. No people has ever lived under such domination by others. That is why national unity is so important for the Kurds. There are just a few exceptions, one of them being the Kurdish society. Kurds have been divided so much, that they have been left powerless. Their enemies are encouraged by this fragmentation. The liberation of Kurdish society can definitely only be achieved through unity.

Today, even though there is a good opportunity for the Kurds, we are faced with a dangerous situation. If Kurdish unity is established soon, the Kurds can achieve their freedom. That is why this decision taken at the conference is very important and historic. All Kurds and even all peoples living in Kurdistan should work for the realization of the national unity conference as soon as possible. If Kurdish unity is achieved, the Kurdish people will win and their hopes will be realized after so many years of struggle. I would therefore like to call on everyone to fulfill their responsibility.