In the second part of this interview, Besê Hozat, co-chair of the KCK Executive Council, said that "the Kurdish question has yet to be solved, and Turkey has not democratized. As long as it continues to be like this, there will be weapons, there will be resistance, and there will be struggle."

The first part of the interview can be read here.

The state draws the current focus of discussion on the armed struggle and the ongoing war. The state calls on you to lay down arms. Why did your movement consider it necessary to take up arms back then, and why do you still see a need to do so today?

Because of the existence of the Kurdish question, there is an armed struggle. If there were no policies of denial and annihilation, if there were no genocidal policies and warfare, if there were no extermination and assimilation of the Kurds, of course the armed struggle would not have developed. The PKK would not have been established. The establishment of the PKK, the beginning of the armed struggle in 1984, the fact that such a glorious struggle has been going on for nearly half a century, growing steadily, despite heavy costs, is due to the fact that the policies of denial and annihilation against the Kurds have not been overcome. It is because the Kurdish question is not solved on a democratic basis. This is the main reason for the armed struggle. It still continues today, because the reasons why it was necessary to take up arms have not disappeared.

The Kurdish question has yet to be solved, and Turkey has not democratized. As long as it continues to be like this, there will be weapons, there will be resistance, and there will be struggle. How can the Kurds be left defenseless while the Kurdish question remains unsolved? There is a genocidal war against the Kurds, a war of extermination. Without ending the denial and annihilation, without ending the genocidal policies and war, the Kurds cannot take down their defense. Were all these heavy prices, all these gains, all these values, the value of freedom, created in vain? Of course not. As long as this genocidal war continues, as long as the policies of denial, annihilation, and genocide continue, as long as the Kurdish question is not solved on a democratic basis, armed resistance and armed struggle will continue. This is clear. The Kurdish question will be solved, and it will happen in democratic conditions. When the state puts forward a serious goodwill, a serious policy, and a solution policy, when it sits down with Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and negotiates this issue on the basis of democratic conditions, then, of course, the issue of weapons can and will be discussed.

Weapons were taken up because of the existence of this question. All of these discussions currently being carried out in the ruling media are psychological special warfare. The impact of the freedom struggle, especially in recent years, created by the global freedom campaign, the level of struggle that has emerged, the serious strain this has created in the government and the state, and the anxiety and fear created by the developments in the region have created a complex and serious situation. Now they have reached such a point that they try such an effort. They are trying to gain power from this process. In order to cover up their failures, the current government and its media are approaching them extremely frivolously, narrowly, pragmatically, and self-interested. They summarize all that is going on in one empty headline, saying, ‘The PKK is finished. Öcalan will make a call, and they will lay down arms.’ The current government and its media are in a non-serious attitude that aims to completely gain power and instrumentalize the current process with a very frivolous, narrow, pragmatic, and self-interested understanding. This has no basis whatsoever and is far from reality. Right now, Rêber Apo is working in Imrali for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question and the democratization of Turkey. He works intensively. If this process develops, if the Kurdish question is solved, the issue of weapons will of course be discussed. The statements of all state officials and the press regarding the war have no real equivalent. They are saying these things to cover up their own failures, to hide the truth from the public and society.

The AKP government is going through the weakest period in its 20-year history. It is in the process of collapse. Politics in Turkey has collapsed, the economy has collapsed, the law is underfoot, and there is no justice. There is a serious moral decay in society. There was the recent fire in a hotel in Bolu, Kartalkaya. The hotel did not even have an alarm system. 78 people burned to death. This is a complete massacre. It is said that 45 of the dead were children. This is a very painful situation. This situation shows the true state the government is in.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. It is a really sad situation. The anniversary of the February 6 earthquake is approaching. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. Total cities were leveled to the ground. Millions of people today are still living in a miserable situation. They cannot find a morsel of bread, cannot find a house to live in, and some even cannot find a tent to sleep in. This government has brought Turkey to this point.

All of Turkey’s income, resources, and economic opportunities are spent on the war. The result of forty years of armed struggle is obvious. The result of this genocidal war on the Kurds is obvious. Four trillion dollars have been spent, and this is only the amount they openly admitted. All resources were spent on this. Not only economic resources; the little bit of law that still existed in the country was also eliminated. Justice disappeared; everything disappeared. They destroyed Turkey.

Turkey is facing a serious collapse, a breakdown in domestic and foreign policy. In order to cover this up, the government is creating an atmosphere as if it has come out of this process with great success. They speak about how the PKK was defeated, that it will lay down their arms, or that if they refuse, they will bury them with their arms. The government is trying to make people believe this with such demagoguery, trying to deceive and fool everyone. But what is the reality? The truth is it covers up its failure with these discourses. The truth is that this current government policy is over, exhausted, and bankrupt. The winner is the democratic will of the struggle of our people and all peoples.

The fact that the current agenda, this current process, was started is entirely the result of the revolutionary democratic struggle and resistance. So the reality is not what the government claims. There is no basis for what they are saying; there is nothing tangible about it. They are all lies. It has become a government of lies. Their statements should not be taken seriously.

Can you put the Kurdish question for us into context? What is the solution project that people's leader Abdullah Öcalan is working on? What is the focus, and how can it be achieved?

The policies of Kurdish denial and annihilation, and the process of dividing Kurdistan into four parts, began with the First Cairo Conference. It was in fact the first Cairo Conference that laid the groundwork for the following, more prominent, Lausanne Conference. The decision taken at the Cairo Conference was for the hegemonic system to establish dominance over the region on the basis of the unsolved Kurdish question. And so the policy of Kurdish denial gradually developed in the following years. In Lausanne, this was formalized. The infamous Lausanne Treaty was signed in 1923, three years after the first Cairo Conference. A Kurdish trap has been created with the Cairo Conference and the Treaty of Lausanne. The Kurdish question was left unresolved, and a state of war was created with policies of denial, annihilation, and genocide. In this course, the Turkish state has been kept in a state of war with the Kurds uninterruptedly. This situation has been a constant source of nourishment for the hegemonic system. They used Turkey on this basis to dominate the region. The system took advantage of this dependency and constantly deepened the crisis. This is what Rêber Apo called the ‘Kurdish Trap’.

Of course, this was not only a trap for the Kurds. In fact, as our leader also stated, it was a trap for all the peoples. And the peoples were lured into a trap, subjected to a conspiracy. Now Rêber Apo wants to break and overcome this trap. He wants to completely overcome it on the basis of the democratic solution of the Kurdish question, the democratization of Turkey, and the democratization of the region, and thereby to eliminate this conspiracy. He is making a very intense effort in this direction.

Now, this is actually a 32-year struggle. In 1993, the search initiated by our leader with the first unilateral ceasefire was an attempt in this direction. Over time, this process developed and matured. Today in Imrali, these ideas have reached a system based on the paradigm of the democratic nation, on women’s liberation, and on an ecological and democratic society. This is extremely decisive. Rêber Apo is currently working on this paradigm. He wants to solve the Kurdish question based on it. As far as we are able to follow it right now, especially from the results of the talks, we understand the following: Rêber Apo is working on the relationship between the state and democracy and is trying to create a solution on the basis of a democratic society. The main question is how the state and democracy can co-exist. How the relationship between the state and democracy can be regulated. And how this relationship can be given a legal and constitutional basis.

Democracy is a form of administration of society. The state, on the other hand, is an instrument of hegemonic pressure on society as a whole. How can a sensitivity to democracy be created now, especially in a country like Turkey, which has a fascist, genocidal, and monist state? How can the state’s relationship with self-administration, the governance model of a democratic society, be regulated? How can the law, legislation, and constitution of this relationship look? As far as we understand, Rêber Apo is currently deepening his answers to these questions. He is trying to develop a model of a democratic society. Without rejecting the state, he is working on a model of self-administration that is intertwined with the state and respectful of each other and that guarantees the rights and laws of both sides in a legal and constitutional manner. As far as we understand from all we hear, including the last two meetings with Omer Ocalan and the DEM Party delegation, Rêber Apo is concentrating on such a solution model. He wants to negotiate this solution model with the state and is making very serious efforts in this regard. Moreover, he is making a very intense effort not only for the democratization of Turkey but also for the democratization of the region, including, for example, Iran and Syria. Always with the question in mind on how the imperialist and capitalist games on the peoples of the region can be frustrated. Rêber Apo is spending a lot of effort and energy on all these questions. We follow and observe this. Anyone who examines the prison writings of Rêber Apo in depth, will comprehend what kind of solution model Rêber Apo is focusing on.

The state is currently in serious hesitation. It knows that this process cannot continue like this. No matter what it does, it cannot suppress this movement and struggle. It is not possible to stop the Kurds’ quest for freedom. Today, there are highly conscious, strong-willed, organized, and politicized Kurdish people all over the world and in the four parts of Kurdistan. There is an organized struggle. This is deepening and becoming a culture and tradition. This situation is deeply rooted in every cell of Kurdish society, and it is not possible to liquidate it. For this reason, the state is currently in a search. However, at the current stage, there is still no complete acceptance. There is a serious war. One of the main reasons for this war, this fight, and these attacks is the state’s uncertainty and hesitation. Therefore, what is essential is the struggle of the Kurds, the peoples of Turkey, and the democratic forces, and within them, particularly the women and young people. With a strong and comprehensive struggle, the state can be forced to take a clear position and move towards a solution. A strong and holistic struggle is essential for this.