KCK Executive Council Co-Presidency released a written statement on the isolation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. In its statement, KCK said that Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been under isolation in İmralı Closed Prison since his imprisonment after the international conspiracy of 1998, remarking that the 17 years long isolation aimed to disconnect Leader Apo from Kurdish people and eliminate the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

Recalling that the Turkish state developed arbitrary policies and even passed laws for Leader Apo’s isolation, which are unprecedented in world history, KCK stated that the psychological warfare and isolation targeting Leader Apo were a result of Turkish state anger at Leader Apo’s central role in and contribution to the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

The statament emphasized that the international conspiracy of 1998 targeted Leader Öcalan’s ideological approach based on the sisterhood of peoples and the development of a democratic Middle East Confederation. KCK said that Leader Apo was imprisoned because of his politics that weaken regional collaborators who serve to establish imperialism and capitalist modernity in the region, and criticized the divide-and-conquer policies of imperialism and capitalist modernity implemented by nation states in the Middle East.

KCK stated that Leader Apo has been waging an ideological and political struggle against the perpetrators of the international conspiracy of 1998, and aims to solve the Kurdish issue and bring peace and stability to the Middle East, particularly to Turkey. "Leader Apo responded to Turkish state policies of cultural genocide with efforts aimed at solving the Kurdish issue and democratizing Turkey for the past 17 years It is the Kurdish People’s Leader who created the grounds for hope in the solution of the Kurdish issue", it said.

Emphasizing that the Kurdish leader has prepared Turkish society for the solution of the Kurdish issue and pressured the AKP government to get involved in the solution process for the past 13 years, KCK said that Leader Apo’s policies and proposals frustrated AKP efforts to stall the negotiations, increase expectations and deceive the public.

KCK remarked that the Dolmabahçe Declaration of February 28 which brought the state to the negotiation table was a result of Leader Apo’s efforts and created hopes and expectations within Turkish society.

Stating that AKP elites and President Tayyip Erdoğan declared their intention to not participate in the solution process by saying that there was neither a negotiation table nor a Kurdish question, KCK reminded that as the ‘head negotiator,’ Leader Apo has not been able to meet with his family and lawyers as well as the members of HDP İmralı committee due to state preventions and isolation policies.

KCK pointed out that the 17 years old isolation of Leader Apo has become more arbitrary during the AKP period and the government banned Öcalan from meeting with his lawyers, describing these isolation policies as blackmail aiming to deepen Leader Apo’s imprisonment and elevate the level of psychological warfare and oppression targeting Kurdish people and the Freedom Movement.

‘ISOLATION NEVER ENDED’

In its statement, KCK described Leader Apo’s imprisonment as blackmail and said that the isolation of Öcalan never ended. The statement underlined that the meetings with HDP İmralı Committee took place arbitrarily and the ban on Öcalan’s lawyers shows that the policies of isolation never ended. KCK pointed out that the state does not even implement its own regulations and laws, let alone preparing the grounds for improving Leader Apo’s imprisonment conditions and enabling him to communicate with different groups as the political will and head negotiator of Kurdish people.

KCK stated that it was not only Leader Öcalan but also Kurdish people who have been imprisoned for the past 17 years, and the isolation of Öcalan was a response to Kurdish people’s refusal to give up on their demands for freedom and democracy. KCK added that the acceptance of Kurdish people’s freedom and democracy would invalidate such policies of isolation and psychological warfare.

'OUR LEADER MUST BE FREED IMMEDIATELY'

KCK underlined that; "If there exists an intention for a resolution of the Kurdish question, our Leader must be freed immediately and enabled to hold talks and negotiations under free conditions. If our Leader continues to be held under unfree conditions and isolation, this attitude will mean that there has been no change in the stance towards the Kurdish question, and that there exists no will and decision for a resolution."

Stressing that it will otherwise not be possible to take a step for the resolution of the Kurdish question, KCK said that the reason for the deadlock in talks going on for years is the severe conditions and isolation the Kurdish leader is being subject to. “Our leader is being held in slavery as a captive due to the lack of a mindset, will and policy for resolution”, it said.

KCK pointed out that the AKP government has been insistent on taking no steps although the Kurdish leader and movement provided a basis for the resolution of the problem. "The AKP government didn't take the necessary steps because it doesn't bear a will for a resolution and hasn't undergone a change in its mindset, not because it doesn't have the conditions required for it. It goes without doubt that the peoples of Turkey want a solution and will support every political power and leader that will take a step for this purpose", KCK said.

The statement also highlighted that the Kurdish people and democratic circles have supported the HDP which embraces the Kurdish leader's democratic nation project, which will enable the resolution of the Kurdish question, and punished Erdoğan and AKP that has failed to answer the expectations by taking no steps for the achievement of democratization in Turkey and resolution of the Kurdish question.

‘ISOLATION OF ÖCALAN COULD ONLY BE ENDED WITH HIS LIBERATION'

In its statement, KCK stated that Kurdish People’s Leader created the grounds for hope in the solution of the Kurdish issue and the democratization of Turkey, adding; “The freedom of Leader Apo is a prerequisite for the solution of the Kurdish issue and the democratization of Turkey, and the state approach towards Leader Apo will determine the future of the negotiation process. Kurdish people and democracy forces began the campaign for the freedom of Leader Öcalan in order to further the solution process, and the isolation of Öcalan could only be ended with his liberation.”

KCK emphasized that the struggle for Leader Apo’s freedom was the struggle for Kurdish freedom and Turkey’s democratization.

Describing the results of June 7 elections as Turkish and Kurdish people’s initiative for democratizing Turkey, KCK said that it was impossible to govern Turkey with old mentalities, laws, and constitutions, and the first step for ending this old mentality was to continue the negotiations in İmralı Island in order to solve the Kurdish issue and democratize Turkey. The statement said that Leader Apo’s freedom was directly linked to the solution of the Kurdish issue and the democratization of Turkey, and invited the peoples of Turkey and Kurdistan to join the campaign for Leader Apo’s freedom.

‘LETS JOIN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATING LEADER APO’

KCK Executive Council Co-Presidency invited the youth, women and friends of Kurdistan to treat the freedom of Öcalan as the freedom of peoples in Turkey and the Middle East, and to increase their current struggle for Öcalan’s liberation.

KCK also called on people from all four parts of Kurdistan as well as Turkish and Middle Eastern peoples to join the struggle for liberating the Kurdish leader and develop uprisings with the motto of “The freedom of our Leader is also our Freedom.”

Emphasizing the importance of participation of all social and political groups in this struggle, and saying that the demands for Öcalan’s freedom should be constant and ever increasing, KCK called on democracy and freedom forces to take their demands for Öcalan’s liberation to the streets in order to bring the concepts of Free Leadership, Free Country, Free People, Shared Democratic State and Democratic Nation to life.

‘OUR PEOPLE SHOULD STAND UP TO AND PREVENT ARRESTS’

KCK highlighted the AKP government’s recent decision to increase its operations of political genocide and said that this decision aimed to escalate war both inside and outside Turkey. KCK invited Kurdish people to stand up to and prevent the arrests of politicians in every city and district.