PKK Executive Council Member Murat Karayılan spoke to the Dengê Kurdistan (Voice of Kurdistan) Radio on AKP’s plans to disband the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, the stage of the war, the Turkish state’s policies on Rojava and Southern Kurdistan and the importance of the national unity among Kurds.

Third and last part of Murat Karayılan’s speech, translated by ANF English service, is as follows:

THE WHOLE WORLD SAW THE WAR CAPABILITY OF THE TURKISH STATE

The Bab issue entered the agenda as an important subject. We had said this before, Turkish colonialism wanted mainly to intervene with the Rojava Revolution with this. They had already entered Jarablus and Dabiq regions under an agreement. For 158 days they have wanted to take Bab, then they were counting on taking Manbij, Raqqa and Efrîn. Turkey had great goals in this issue. But Bab acted as a mirror for Turkey to see themselves, and the world to see them. Now the whole world has seen the Turkish army’s capability for war. Yet again, everybody saw that the Turkish army can’t fight against ISIS like YPG can. Because it’s been 5 months and 8 days and they couldn’t even take one district, they can’t enter there. They have only entered a neighborhood called Jabel Aqil, by the entrance of the town. There they suffered great blows. They entered that neighborhood with tanks, but they faced a great defeat there. They left 12 armored vehicles there and fled. 8 of them were destroyed. Now 2 of their leopard tanks and 2 of their panzers are in the hands of ISIS and they are being used against the Turks.

In this process, it has been revealed that the Turkish army doesn’t have the skills to fight ISIS face to face. Actually, the same thing was apparent in Şırnak and Nusaybin as well. They entered the cities when the Şırnak and Nusaybin forces retreated from the city. In Cizre and Sur, when the fighters ran out of ammunition and rockets to use against the armored vehicles, then the army entered. So, this process exposed how much strength this army has. But with their war with us, not everything could be relayed to the outside world. However much we wanted to explain the situation, people thought we said these for propaganda because we are fighting the Turkish army. But today, in Aleppo, in Shehba, again around Bab, the whole world saw the Turkish state’s capability for war. Now they are yelling bloody murder, calling everybody for help. The US, the UK, Russia, they are asking everybody for help. Russia, the US and the Coalition have been helping. They have been conducting aerial strikes in Bab for two months, they destroyed several areas, but the Turkish army hasn’t taken even one house still. These people are only “skilled” when it comes to civilians in Turkey and the Kurdish people. They can only tear down the homes of the people. But that’s not how they are when it comes to actual war. In short, the Turkish army has been thoroughly defeated there. They have learned their lesson.

ERDOĞAN IS VERY GOOD AT U TURNS

In the past, Erdoğan must have not been so much aware of this situation. He was very confident. He kept saying, “Inshallah we will take care of Bab soon. Then we will face Manbij and Raqqa, we will continue towards the inner parts.” Now he says, “If inshallah Bab is done, we will not move further in.” He has displayed one of his famous U turns here as well. Erdoğan is very good at U turns. He won’t even let it show that he is turning. Now, he has made this turn about Bab. Alright, if you have such great claims, why don’t you take Bab and then continue? They can’t even take Bab, to think they are saying “We will not move further in”! Now they are hiding behind Russia’s back to save themselves from there. Because they think only Russia can take them out of that mess. Other than that, they can’t maneuver there.

Their only issue is animosity towards Kurds, and, in this context, Efrîn and Kobanê joining. They are this “great state”, but they are so scared. Fear is normal, but not this much. Animosity, alright, but not this much. These people are like they are diseased. That is why the Turkish army fell apart in Bab. It was a great thing that they came to Bab, because everybody got to know them. Presumably, they won’t be making so much noise in the future.

THE CERTAINTY IS THAT THE TURKISH ARMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN BAB

But they are hiding this from the Turkish public. Whether they define themselves as right or left wing, the whole media right now talks of the heroism of the Turkish soldiers in Bab. Of course in the meantime, they hide the army’s losses. For example, they have 85 dead in Jabel Aqil neighborhood alone. 50 of them are the gangs they have alongside them, and 35 of them are their own soldiers. But they said they had 16 losses. They are hiding their losses so the public won’t protest. It seems they are all in agreement over this. Nobody is asking them what they did in Bab for 158 days, not taking one house. And they keep saying “Our tanks did this, our planes did that, we killed this many ISIS members” everyday. By their death count, there should have been no ISIS left in Bab. For the last few days, they are saying “According to our sources, ISIS will remove their headquarters from Bab.” ISIS already stayed there for too long, they resisted and they wore you down. Considering the method used, it is possible for them to step aside. Also, ISIS doesn’t have an important base in Bab, their large headquarters were in Manbij. After they were defeated in Manbij, Bab was easy pickings. If they left it alone, the SDF would have taken that place in a few weeks. But they didn’t. Of course we don’t know if ISIS retreated or not. But whatever the outcome is, the certainty is that the Turkish army has been defeated in Bab.

THE TURKISH STATE FAILED TO ACHIEVE THE OUTCOME THEY WANTED IN SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

The AKP state had plans regarding Southern Kurdistan as well. But they didn’t have the chance to implement them yet. We can say that they failed in the South as well. They wanted to fight in Shengal, and thus create a conflict among Kurdish forces. Namely, they wanted to pull KDP into the war, but they have yet to achieve anything. They wanted to make a diplomatic move at the same time, and they visited Baghdad with an extensive committee. They failed to achieve the outcome they desired there too. So, it is apparent that their South policy isn’t getting any results either. They are conducting aerial attacks on Medya Defense Zones. With every attack, they say they killed us in great numbers. Most recently, the Turkish army made a statement: “In the attack we conducted in Medya Defense Zones on January 13-14, we killed 57 people.” We don’t know how they wrote this story. They wait for days, to make the people believe, and then they sit around a table and write these fiction pieces as news stories. So, it is true that they attacked, but we have no losses in said attacks.

The general picture is, the Turkish state has either failed to realize their plans, or when they did manage, they failed to achieve results. We can say this about the South as well. They were aiming to start a civil war by creating conflict among Kurdish political movements. Although it’s not entirely clear, in the end, the Turkish state has failed.

NATIONAL UNITY IS STRATEGIC FOR THE PKK

It appears that the KCK Co-leadership’s call for national unity has had widespread effect. As far as we know, many meetings have been held regarding this matter. There is the possibility that there may be different developments for national unity. There are serious efforts on this. Today, the Kurdish Freedom Struggle is going through a very important process. The opportunity for the Kurdish people to achieve freedom is present. But for the Kurdish people to live free in these sacred lands like all their neighbors, these opportunities need to be utilized correctly and the political, diplomatic, national and military associations that can be a foundation for the march to freedom should be created. We as the PKK consider this issue a strategic matter. Maybe some forces will interpret our calls and efforts differently. We don’t make these calls because we’re afraid of something. We see that as a people we have spent great efforts in all four parts, and we have martyrs. But today, the necessary opportunities to achieve results are there. We need to have unity to be able to utilize these opportunities. The enemy is constantly working against this. Pay mind, AKP and Erdoğan have assumed animosity towards Kurds as a strategy for themselves to keep their power. However much they try to frame this as anti-PKK, the truth is not that way.

THE TURKISH STATE DOES EVERYTHING SO KURDS DON’T HAVE STATUS

The Turkish state does everything they can so the Kurds don’t achieve their rights and a status anywhere. Look, all means of the Republic of Turkey have been employed so Kurds don’t achieve a status in Rojava. They go everywhere so the Kurds’ demand for status won’t be accepted. They want Kurds to be without identity in Syria. That is what their whole efforts are for.

For instance, a few days ago, a draft program by Russia for the solution to problems in Syria was published and it talks of autonomy for Kurds. Now, Turkey as a whole is panicking, they are saying “How can this be”, “How can Russia allow something like this”, “Is this true?” Of course the Turkish state worked very hard so YPG and PYD weren’t invited to Astana. But Russia invited PYD to a meeting in Moscow afterwards. Then these documents surfaced. This is the reason for the current panic, and now they are trying to understand what Russia is doing. They say they can’t make sense of this situation. Erdoğan wanted to create a safe zone in Syria for the last 5, 6 years to close off the area between cantons in Rojava. Now, America’s new president Donald Trump said a safe zone should be established in Syria. They are also panicking over this. “What does he mean by that, is that for the Kurdish region, what if it’s like Southern Kurdistan?” I’m sure that Turkey is in a secret diplomatic activity with both Russia and the US so Kurds don’t have a place in the future of Syria.

So we have this state that is anti-Kurdish to this extent. All the colonialists are in such activity against Kurds. We the Kurds as a people must think of ourselves at this point. We must comprehend the goals of this enemy, and achieve unity among ourselves. We need to have a common strategy. Some conditions may not allow us to be united in every sense, but we can find common ground in most issues. We believe that this is a necessity for the success of the Kurdish people and that certain steps will be taken in this framework.

ERDOĞAN WANTS TO LEGALIZE FASCISM

2017 will be a significant year for the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle. I am saying this considering the developments in both the Middle East and in Kurdistan. This isn’t just true for the Kurdish people, but for all peoples of the region. The developments to be created this year will determine the direction for the future. Sure, everything may not happen within the scope of one year, but the developments during this year will determine the future.

Erdoğan also has plans in this period. Erdoğan wants to continue their operations in the North and go on an extraterritorial operation in spring. He wants to say there is a problem of survival in Turkey, and that is why he is sending the soldiers to Southern and Rojava Kurdistan, and that Turkey needs a strong president in such a period, to enter the referendum process under such conditions. That is Erdoğan’s plan. He wants to expand the attacks over the border. He doesn’t care if the soldiers live or die anyways. The only thing he cares about is having the referendum in such chaos, and become the president of Turkey for 12 years. All his calculations are to that end. He wants to be the only man and determine everything himself. The parliament he talks of is just there to make whatever Erdoğan says into law. He is more based in being the only man than a king. If he had some soft democratic aspects, people could maybe make sense of this. A lot of countries have presidential systems with democratic aspects. If it was such a system he wanted to establish, people could still make sense of it. But this system isn’t like that. The system that passed the parliament now is an absolutely monist and fascist system. The MHP mindset is all over it. They really want to legalize a fascism based upon a dictatorship. That is their effort.

THE SOLUTION: UNITING AGAINST FASCISM

All who oppose fascism in Turkey must come together against this wave of fascism. If this wave is stopped, we can achieve a bright and peaceful Turkey. But if this wave wins, darkness will rule Turkey for many years to come. The Kurdistan Freedom Struggle plays an important role in this matter. Because Erdoğan has made everybody fall in line. Now the main force to stand against Erdoğan’s, AKP’s and MHP’s fascist attacks is the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle. That is why if they achieve success against us, a fascist system will prevail in Turkey. But if he loses, he can’t establish his own system. That is why the struggle we wage is not important just for the future of the Kurdish people, but for all of Turkey. Even for the Middle East. Because the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle moving in line with Leader Apo’s paradigm wants to create change in Turkey and turn Turkey into a democratic country. It wants to turn Syria into a democratic country. It wants to open the door for a new revolution in the Middle East. That is why the struggle for freedom carried out by Kurds on Imralı, in prisons, in the mountains, on the streets, in cities, in all four parts of Kurdistan is in its essence developing the struggle for freedom for all peoples. That is why the struggle is important for all peoples. It is especially important for Turkey. They say the PKK wants to divide Turkey, there is a problem of survival in Turkey and so on. These are all lies. Everybody knows that the PKK wants to turn Turkey into a democratic country. PKK wants to create a fraternity between Kurds and Turks by heart. That is Leader Apo’s project and PKK acts according to that project. Everybody must know this very well.”