In a statement to mark Abdullah Öcalan's 76th birthday, the General Presidential Council of the KCK said that "4 April stands for the resurrection of the free Kurds."

The statement said: "While 4 April is an occasion for us to congratulate first and foremost Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan], as well as our people, their international friends, and the democratic forces of the world, with women and youth as their natural driving force, we also commemorate with respect the martyrs of 4 April, especially Mustafa Dag and Mahsum Karoglan. At the same time, we salute all those who participate in the march towards the Amara village and, in general, all those who took part in democratic protests in which they stood up for the values of democracy and freedom created by Rêber Apo.

The Kurdish people had been condemned to a fate of genocide until the emergence of Rêber Apo. They were subjected to cultural and physical genocide and alienated from their own history. Based on a policy of denial and extermination enforced by the ones that dominated Kurdistan, the Kurds were left with nothing but their bare lives, and even that was often not left to them. Even the name of the Kurds, along with their country and culture, was wanted to be erased from history. In this sense, the emergence of Rêber Apo, who was born on April 4th, represents the re-existential rebirth of the Kurdish people. He stands for the fact that our country, Kurdistan, will regain its own sun of life. Therefore, the birth and the life Rêber Apo chose was the good news for the cause of liberation from the hundred-year genocide fate to which the Kurdish people were condemned."

The statement added: "With the emergence of Rêber Apo, a new history began to be written in Kurdistan. A new history of existence and freedom led by the Kurdish freedom struggle led by Rêber Apo began to be written. It led to a new era of women and the people, a new era of democratic society. That is why the Kurdish people, women, and youth attach deep meaning to the birth of Rêber. Our people, pioneered by women and the youth, define April 4th as a day of rebirth for themselves, and on this basis, they embrace and celebrate it everywhere. The fact that our people attach such deep meanings to April 4th and celebrate it everywhere is gradually becoming a common social custom and heritage.

The democratic society and the resurrection of the free Kurds that began with the birth of Rêber Apo also mean the cultural, religious, and identity resurrection of other peoples in the Middle East. It was Rêber Apo who brought out this spirit and culture of living together and fraternally that our people carry in their own historical social reality. This spirit of peace and brotherhood that the peoples have experienced in their own history has started to resurrect in the Middle East geography thanks to Rêber Apo. Today, under the leadership of the Kurdish people, this historical social and cultural spirit and understanding, which has begun to build itself as a democratic society and according to the paradigm of the democratic nation, is beginning to melt the black winters caused by nation states in favor of peoples, cultures, and beliefs."

The statement continued: "The Kurdish people are currently focused on the struggle for the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. This is the most important agenda. Our people demand to see Rêber Apo physically among them now. At every opportunity, it expresses its determination and claim for democratic struggle. As a matter of fact, this could be observed most clearly in the recent enthusiastic Newroz festivities. This demand and will of our people, which has become possible in terms of international law, must be seen and read correctly by everyone. The physical freedom of Rêber Apo means the solution of the centuries-old Kurdish question, and the solution of the Kurdish question means the democratization of the whole of Turkey and the Middle East.

The Kurdish people, particularly the women and the youth, took an enthusiastic, hopeful, and decisive stance in the Newroz festivities and showed the same spirit in the march towards Amara. We are convinced that this stronger organizational power and higher level of action will continue to grow over the course of the year. We can assure everyone that as a movement, the goal of all our work and our struggle in general is to achieve the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. On this basis, we call on all our patriotic people, especially women and youth, and their dear international friends to join the struggle for the physical liberation of Rêber Apo, to increase their level of organization, and to make their democratic actions even more effective. Again, on the basis of Rêber Apo’s perspective of an ecological society, we call on everyone to plant trees and green their surroundings on the occasion of 4 April."