The PKK Executive Committee issued a written statement and stressed that the 2631st year of Newroz celebrations will be a year of resistance and victory. The statement pointed out the Turkish state’s invasion attacks against Afrin and said: “The people of Afrin and the fighters have successfully fulfilled their duties. Now the duty falls on the shoulders of everyone, everywhere.”

The full text of the PKK Executive Committee statement is as follows:

As a movement and a people, we greet this year’s Newroz, our historic feast of resistance, unity and freedom, with increasing the Afrin Resistance of the Age against attacks by the colonialist-genocidal Turkish state fascism. The 2631st Newroz becomes the Afrin Resistance Newroz. In all resistance fronts for the last two months, the people of Afrin and the freedom fighters have displayed the greatest heroism for freedom in history. Our people in four parts of Kurdistan and abroad and all democratic forces have stood up and filled the streets for the last two months to support the Afrin Resistance. In this framework, they have turned everywhere into Afrin and every day into the resistance. Newroz finds its true meaning this year with the Afrin Resistance of the Age.

WE SALUTE THE AFRIN RESISTANCE

On this basis, we first salute the Afrin Freedom Resistance that has turned every day into Newroz, and we celebrate Newroz for the heroic people of Afrin, the YPG/YPJ and SDF commanders and fighters, and everybody who took to the streets to support the Afrin resistance. We remember all the heroic martyrs of the Resistance of the Age with respect and gratitude in the person of Avesta Xabur. The Afrin Resistance has won every day for the last two months, and we believe that it will ultimately prevail and be the determining factor in the reality of the 21st Century. We wish great success to all those who resist.

THE 2631ST YEAR OF NEWROZ WILL BE THE YEAR OF VICTORY AND RESISTANCE

On this principle, we celebrate the Newroz Feast of Resistance, Unity and Freedom for Leader Abdullah Öcalan, all comrades, our patriotic people, the revolutionary force of the age women and the youth, all peoples and all revolutionary-democratic forces. We wish them all success in their struggle for freedom and democracy in the Newroz new year. Starting with our national heroes Mazlum Doğan and Mahsum Korkmaz, we remember all the Freedom Martyrs with respect and gratitude in the persons of our martyrs Comrades Zekiye, Rahşan, Ronahi, Berivan, Sema and Çiyager. We will uphold their memory in the ever-increasing freedom struggle. We declare that the 2631st year of Newroz will be the year of the greatest and most meaningful resistance and victory.

DIGGING GRAVES FOR PRESENT DAY DEHAKS

Turkish fascism has enacted a genocide against our people for centuries. Them attacking Afrin today, destroying the city and committing massacres, and attempting to invade Afrin with tanks, artilleries and jet fighters and to de-Kurdify Afrin on a genocidal basis certainly comes as no surprise. This force is doing in Afrin now what they have been doing in Amed, Serhad, Dersim, Botan, Mardin, Maraş and Hakkari for a hundred years. They act in accordance with their fascist, colonialist and genocidal reaity. We understand this very well, and on this basis, we have resisted as a people for the last hundred years at the price of thousands of martyrs. Now the people of Afrin are resisting, and digging the graves for the present day Dehaks. It can be seen clearly even now that in the new year of the Newroz all the people of Kurdistan will increase the freedom resistance to the maximum and bury the AKP-MHP fascist dictatorship in history.

AFRIN ILLUMINATES THE REALITY OF THIS WORLD ONCE AGAIN

We understand the genocidal Turkish dictatorship that has plagued the world with their fascist mindset and politics based on war and genocide for a hundred years, but we do struggle to understand why the world powers that claim they are democratic act so permissively towards the fascism in question. For the last two months, Turkish fascism has attacked to invade Afrin and Turkish jets and artilleries have massacred the people of Afrin in front of the whole world, and fascist chief Tayyip Erdoğan boasts about his actions every day. There is no doubt that the AKP-MHP fascist dictatorship could not have implemented their attacks and genocidal practices without approval and support from the UN, the US, NATO, the EU, Russia, Iran or the Assad regime, neither could it have acted and spoken in such contempt for humanity. It is very clear that the historic Afrin Resistance is illuminating the reality of today’s world, and exposes those who commit the crime of genocide and those who become their accomplices. Looking from the viewpoint of the Afrin Resistance, it can be seen clearly that humanity is going through a true test at the beginning of this 21st century. Here it will suffice to say that those who turn a blind eye to the Turkish state’s Afrin genocide, those who support it and those who stay silent should review their stance. Because the Turkish state attack against Afrin today is nothing different than the ISIS attack against Kobanê yesterday. YPG-YPJ forces are doing in Afrin against the Turkish army today the same thing they did against ISIS in Kobanê yesterday.

WHATEVER WILL BE DONE SHOULD BE DONE NOW

It is very clear that the colonialist-genocidal Turkish fascism that attacks Afrin today isn’t just attacking the people of Afrin, it attacks the whole of the Kurdish people, all peoples, democratic forces and humanity. So, the forces resisting to defend Afrin today are not resisting just to protect Afrin and to liberate it, they resist to defend the whole of Kurdistan, the Middle East and humanity. By freeing Kurdistan and democratizing the Middle East, they want to turn the 21st century into the century of freedom and democracy. They are trying to make a reality the ideas of Leader Abdullah Öcalan that propose a new free and democratic world is possible on the basis of democratic confederalism. They are giving the full meaning to the historic Newroz and its reality of freedom and resistance in the world we live in. They are showing everybody that if there are new Dehaks in the world of tyranny, there are also new Kawa the Ironsmiths in the world of freedom. It is apparent that one could only be inspired by such a great and meaningful resistance. And for the sake of consistency, one could only uphold the historic duties and responsibilities this great resistance has placed on one’s shoulders. In fact, the people of Afrin and the resistance forces who have stood against the most vile attacks and massacres for the last two months have fulfilled their historic duty successfully. Now the duty falls on the shoulders of everyone, everywhere. Whatever will be done for freedom and democracy has to be done now. With the motto, “Everywhere Afrin, all the time Berxwedan”, it is time for all of humanity to stand up. Turning the freedom resistance in Afrin and Rojava into a permanent state and deepening it, spreading the resistance to everywhere in Kurdistan starting with Bakur and Bashur, actively supporting the Resistance of the Age in Europe and throughout the world will destroy the fascist/genocidal aggression and will take the struggle for freedom and democracy to victory.

A Bakur Revolutionary Maneuver to develop on this basis in particular will take down the AKP-MHP fascist dictatorship and democratize Turkey and the Middle East.

On this basis, we salute the Afrin Resistance of the Age once again, and celebrate Newroz for all, starting with Leader Abdullah Öcalan and members of the Afrin resistance. We say to those who stay silent against the fascist aggression: “Speak up or it will be your turn”. We are calling on all to break the fascist Turkish state invasion and to achieve freedom throughout the world in the person of Free Afrin!”