In the second part of this interview, co-chair of the KCK Executive Council, Besê Hozat, spoke about the local elections to be held tomorrow, 31 March. 

The first part of the interview can be read here

As is known, the municipal elections in Turkey are set to take place on 31 March. How do you evaluate the elections and the preparations set for the elections?

It is important in which atmosphere, in which political and social climate this election will be held. There is an uninterrupted war, an ongoing genocide in Kurdistan and a war on the peoples of Turkey, a fascist regime in Turkey, an AKP-MHP-Ergenekon ruled fascist government. This fascist government has really suffocated Turkey. Turkey has collapsed politically, economically, ecologically. The government has plundered Turkey’s nature and geography. We saw it in the earthquake last year. With these construction projects, Turkey has completely turned its cities into concrete. In a severe earthquake in Turkey, especially in Kurdistan, cities are leveled to the ground. Now the municipal elections are being held in a very undemocratic and fascist atmosphere. Therefore, it has no legitimacy. These elections will not be democratic. The municipalities are also very important to this government. It wants to take back the places it lost in the previous elections.

For years, the municipalities have really been the center of governmental looting. They have become centers of theft, of plunder, of distributing wealth to cronies, and of looting all the riches. The municipalities in this system have become centers of theft and corruption. This is commonly known and can easily be observed. There is such a system in Turkey that it is a centralist system. The nation-state system in Turkey has already taken its most fascist form. Municipalities have no will, no initiative, and no authority. Everything is determined in Ankara.

In Ankara, this fascist power determines everything on the basis of its own interests. To get richer, to make their cronies earn more, to provide loot, to open areas of undetectable theft, to give away all the values, all the property, and all the riches of the people. The municipalities have really turned into loot distribution centers. That’s why they care so much. They will try to take over every place, they will try to give away the people’s values to their cronies. The more municipalities are taken from the hands of this fascist power, the weaker this fascist power will become. That’s why they are in a panic. Especially in Istanbul, for example, this panic is quite intense. Because Istanbul is the center of life, I mean, almost a quarter of Turkey’s population is there. All the coastal cities are like that, actually. That’s why the current election process in Turkey has become a war process.

I mean, there are no elections, there is a war going on. There is a power struggle, and it is very ugly. No ethical values are recognized. Politics within the Turkish state has become very dirty. You can’t even call it politics. It’s not politics at all, it’s trade. What they call politics is dirty trade and dirty bargaining. There is really no politics left in Turkey. Except for the Kurds and the democratic forces, there is no one practicing clean, democratic, moral, ethical politics. That’s why our people in Turkey should vote for patriotic, democratic, libertarian, and egalitarian candidates. Never should the votes of our people be used as material for this dirty politics. This is very important. The democratic political parties have fielded candidates everywhere. They are the most patriotic, democratic, and libertarian candidates. They do clean politics.

Now that there is already a war of genocide in Kurdistan, the election in Kurdistan is also part of the war. For eight years, they have been appointing trustees. What is a trustee? A trustee is a colonizer, a genocidal occupier. They loot wherever they go. Seeing that they will lose the municipalities, the appointed trustees are selling off anything they can to harm the elected officials who will take their place. They are selling and plundering the property and everything. For eight years in Kurdistan, theft, corruption, and loot have been rampant. They steal from the people and distribute it to their cronies. Everyone in Kurdistan is hungry, poor, and unemployed. They are doing this consciously, to break the will of the people, to make them surrender, and to migrate. This trustee policy is also part of genocide policies.

As if this was not enough, they also mobilized Hizbulkontra. Hizbulkontra have massacred thousands of people in the past, functioning as paramilitary forces of the fascist government at the time. The same government who carried out well-documented genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people, killing hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians. Now, the Hizbulkontra has become activated again and is implementing genocide policies in Kurdistan, but this time through politics. It is trying to make itself the most effective argument in the current situation as part of the total genocide policies all over Kurdistan. It is mobilized everywhere. They are focusing on Batman a lot. These Hizbukontra candidates are speaking Kurdish everywhere. They are trying to deceive people by speaking Kurdish. KDP also speaks Kurdish. By speaking Kurdish, KDP is committing Kurdish genocide together with AKP-MHP- Ergenekon. It is taking part in Kurdish genocide policies. Though, is the KDP really Kurdish in that matter? Can you call it patriotic? Does it have anything to do with Kurdishness? Can a power, a structure that commits Kurdish genocide represent Kurds, their interests and values? In reality, Kurds have gained their values through struggle, resistance, at great cost, with a lot of loss of life, bloodshed, suffering and getting tortured for 100 years, especially over the last 50 years. They are now trying to eliminate, plunder, usurp, and assimilate the values that were created through resistance. And they are doing this by using Kurdish. There is also the TRT 6 channel. By this television channel, they are trying to assimilate Kurds by using Kurdish. It is trying to make Kurds internalize the system, it is committing cultural genocide. It is committing cultural genocide by speaking Kurdish. Every day it curses Kurds, it schemes on how to enslave Kurds, how to make them serve the fascist Turkish state, how to make them servants. Hizbulkontra does the same thing. The AKP-MHP together with Ergenekon are waging a war of genocide by speaking Kurdish everywhere. This contra is doing what JITEM did.

They shamelessly put forward a candidate in a place like Dersim, the center of Alevism and the Reya Heq faith. They are all people of this faith. This is an insult and curse to them. This is blasphemy, this is an attack, this is an attack of genocide. This is the modern day expression of the 1937-38 massacre, and its special warfare tool the Hizbulkontra. It is a war of genocide currently being waged in Dersim. The people of Dersim should spit in the face of these contras. They should not allow those with the blood of the people of Dersim on their hands to even dare to set foot in Dersim, let alone go and make propaganda. Hizbulkontra candidates should not even dare to set foot in Kurdistan, in the cities of Kurdistan. All of them have bloodied their hands with genocide, all of them are assimilation pawns, they are elements within the concepts of special warfare, JITEM elements who develop genocide policies. They have nothing to do with Kurdishness. They insult the Kurdish language by speaking it. They will not be able to assimilate Kurdish culture by using the Kurdish language, they will not be allowed to commit cultural genocide again. Our people will not give in to this. In these municipal elections, at the ballot box, both this genocidal colonialist fascist power, the state, and the elements of special warfare of Hizbulkontra and other collaborator traitor groups will give their answers. I believe in this. Our people are struggling against this, and will show the strongest attitude.

There is currently a lot of discussion about the co-chairman system. Apparently, there are some men who are not in favor of it. What can they tell us about this system? Why is the co-chairman system of such significance in your eyes?

The co-chairman system really plays a very decisive role in the democratization and liberation of politics and society. It plays a transformative, changing role. It is a system developed against the male-dominated mentality, understanding and system. It rejects the male-dominated mentality, system, patriarchal mentality and system, and expresses a break from it. It is an alternative, democratic, libertarian and egalitarian system. Now, in order for this system to be successfully developed, established and executed, first of all, the people responsible for developing this system must completely purify themselves from the mentality and understanding of the dominant, traditional perspective. In other words, they need to experience a break from the dominant, traditional mentality. This is very important. Because this is a system developed against male domination. It is a system based on democratic politics, a form of government and a way of life based on the freedom of women, the freedom of men, the equality and freedom of women and men. In order for this system to develop, first of all, the male friends who take part in this system must experience a radical cut from the male-dominated mentality and understanding. Their mentality must be democratic, libertarian, egalitarian, their understanding must be like this. If this does not happen, they constitute a great obstacle to this system. They are doing everything to frustrate this system.

A man who does not want to give up his male-dominant understanding will create obstacles and resist the development of the co-chairman system. Because male domination wants to rule with its own understanding and mentality. But this system is not like that. This system rejects the way of governing with a male-dominated mentality. It is based on a free, equal, democratic form of government, politics, lifestyle and working style. Now, since this system has developed, there has been a dual attack. There is a state attack against this system. There is a systematic attack. Because the development of this system will bring about democratic politics. It will change and transform society. Changing, transforming, democratizing and liberating society and politics will challenge the state power system. It will challenge and weaken fascist, colonialist, genocidal policies, mentalities and understandings. This frightens the state and the powers. So what will they do? Attack. An attack against this, is an attack on the paradigm of women’s freedom. It is an attack on the free women, free society, free politics, free governance. The state is doing this. It has done this from the beginning. That’s why it imprisoned all the co-chairs. It is trying to take all women’s gains away from women. First it attacked the co-chair system, then it canceled the Istanbul Convention. Now, it is trying to remove anything in its own constitution that is even the slightest bit useful or in favor of women. The whole reaction is united against the paradigm and struggle of women’s freedom.

This is a form of attack that feeds the state and strengthens the state-power system. How does that happen? The man refuses to give up the male-dominated mentality, he does not give up this understanding. He does not give up his way of governing because he thinks it is in his favor. He does not want to live in equal partnership with women, he does not want to share. He does not want to form a joint governing on an equal, free and democratic basis. He insists on his own way of ruling. He insists on his way of domination, suppression, hegemony, he wants to be the one and only. This also happened in the municipalities. This is a fundamental problem we are currently experiencing in all areas. Since male friends do not give up their male-dominated understanding and mentality, there is a problem because they do not take a free, equal, democratic governance and working style as a basis together with their female friends. This process is developing in a constant conflict, constant discussion, constant struggle. This is the nature of the work.

Of course, men do not easily give up their male-dominated understanding. Women need to struggle strongly, men who seek freedom need to struggle very strongly, social segments of our society who want to be liberated, who want democratization need to embrace this system very strongly, and fight against the male-dominated patriarchal system, sexist state and power. This struggle is not only the struggle of women. Women will struggle first and foremost, of course, but men and everybody else who seeks freedom must also struggle. In other words, it is necessary so that the system can settle, function and succeed. If this system is successful, there will definitely be a serious transformation in society, a level of emancipation and democratization will emerge. Society will be liberated and democratized. These fascist nation-state systems, ruling state systems will no longer be able to maintain their rule, they will dissolve and fall apart. In other words, they will no longer be able to exert pressure on the peoples and practice fascism. Therefore, co-chairman means that the system of equal representation becomes a cultural component, vitalized, systematized, a style of governance, a style and understanding of politics. It means the elimination of sexism, nationalism, racism, and religious sectarianism. It means the liberation, democratization and flourishing of society. It means to not only breath but to live freely. It is that important. It is really the resistance point of freedom. But unfortunately, a male approach that will comprehend this, understand it and approach it accordingly has not yet emerged. A women’s struggle that will comprehend this in depth and wage a much more radical and effective struggle, is still not fully sufficient. There are problems in this regard. But this definitely needs to be overcome. This system is very important for the democratization of local governments, society, and the emancipation of political governance.

Now, in local governments, wherever a democratic political party enters the elections in Kurdistan, that is, wherever a political party based on the paradigm of Democratic Nation enters the elections, the co-chairmanship system is taken as a basis. It is absolutely necessary to implement this system in accordance with its essence, philosophy and understanding. This is very important.

In terms of municipalities, it is also necessary to state the following. We see what kind of municipalism our people want. The demands of the people are clear. The people want a pluralist, egalitarian, libertarian, democratic, multicultural, multilingual, socialist municipality. It wants a municipality governance approach in which it will directly participate, be involved in the governance, have a say in the services related to it, in the problems of the local area, and have a will. Our people express this everywhere. If a municipality is not democratic and socialist, it cannot be the administration of the people. That municipality will not provide democratic, free and equal services to the people, it will not be fair. Therefore, a democratic and socialist understanding of municipal administration would provide services to the people in a fairer, more equal manner, without discrimination. This is what the people demand and want. And we think this will be the case. Because all the candidates of democratic political parties in Kurdistan have made these promises. They must fulfill their promises. Of course the people expect them to fulfill their promises in practice, they expect them to implement this.

As is so often the case shortly before elections, there have recently been many attempts by the AKP to present itself as if it were interested in a supposed solution to the Kurdish question. How do you evaluate this?

We see in the press that some AKP officials, special warfare pawns, are trying to create a perception in regard to Rêber Apo. Officials from our party were also evaluating this the other day. Tülay Hatimoğulları also participated in a TV program several days ago, we listened to it. She made very important evaluations and calls. She also addressed this issue. So this is a really serious situation.

AKP circles and officials are trying to create a perception among Kurds that a different process may develop after 1 April. In other words, they are trying to create perceptions. They are aiming to get Kurdish votes in these municipal elections. They say that if the Kurds vote for the AKP, a new solution process can start after the elections. They are conducting a very intense propaganda and perception work, a special warfare policy in Kurdistan. This is very dangerous, since it is completely false. Whether they vote for the AKP or not, there is only one thing that the Kurds will experience after the elections; it will be a deepened, widened and intensified attempt to finish off the genocide. At the moment, all the preparations of this government are on this basis, this is the only plan they will try to implement after elections. This special warfare propaganda aims to confuse the Kurds, creating expectations, creating confusion and gaining votes. It is nothing more than psychological warfare. Our people do not and should not believe them. Already the practice is obvious, the policies are obvious. The rest is a lie. Our people don’t believe it, we don’t believe it. If anyone pays attention, they should never pay attention. This is a genocidal, colonialist, fascist power. And it definitely wants to finalize this genocide policy within a year or two after the elections. It is working on this basis, preparing on this basis. No one should be fooled by the propaganda of the special warfare. No one should fall under the influence of special warfare. Our people should vote for those who represent their own will and their own values. There should be no confusion on this issue. It must be as clear as the sun. It must be as clear as water.

The state, this AKP-MHP-Ergenekon fascist alliance, focuses on some places in Kurdistan with much more importance. It has also identified those places as flagship areas. It is trying to usurp and seize them in this election. In fact, the trustee policy has changed its form a little more in this period. In this process, the Erdogan regime is attempting to achieve this by moving voters. He has filled everywhere with police, gendarmerie and soldiers. He spread the army across Kurdistan and registered each of them as voters. He also created imaginary voters. He will do a lot of cheating anyway. Especially in the past elections, he is paying more attention to the places where the voting rates and the difference in votes were small. For example, he is now very serious about Agri, Şirnak, Urfa, Kars and particularly Igdir. He is concentrating on these areas. He is developing a thousand and one ways and methods to usurp these areas. I believe that our people are sensitive to this. Our people should listen the calls of their political party. All voters in the cities and metropolises of Turkey should go to their places, go to their cities, go to their towns and vote. This must be strictly adhered to. Our people should definitely go to the ballot box wherever they are. They must cast their vote. They must protect their vote, they must protect their will. They should not only vote and come back. They should also protect the ballot box until the results are announced. Because there is a very intense attack, there is a special war, there is cheating, there is a trap. It is our people who will frustrate all these. It is our people’s sensitivity, responsible approach, participation, protecting their will, protecting their votes. We should definitely pay attention to these. This is the measure. We trust our people. Our people must trust themselves. Otherwise, the democratic political party in Kurdistan is forced to become a coalition, it will not be allowed to perform freely per the will of the people. When it comes to Kurdistan, all state parties develop an alliance against the democratic political party, against the Kurds. This is very clear. They enter the elections with the state. Therefore, we must be very sensitive everywhere. Our people must vote. They must protect the ballot box. Those who have moved to the cities of Turkey should come to their own place, come to their home city, come to their home town, cast their vote there. They should make such a sacrifice. Because this enemy, this state, this government treats the election as a war. It treats it as a war to break the will of the Kurds, as a form of developing a new slaughter policy. Our people must really resist, fight against this, and put forward their will in a very strong way. This is important. I would like to make a call on this basis.