Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan has described ISIS attacks as "high intensity war”, calling on the Kurdish people to act accordingly. Öcalan said Turkey’s Rojava policy was a "policy of war against the Kurds". 

The DİHA news agency has published details of a visit made by Mr Öcalan’s guardian Mazlum Dinç to Imralı island on Monday.

Öcalan said: "Davutoğlu said two or three years ago that he would not recognise Rojava and its autonomy. What does non-recognition mean? It means ‘I will fight against you.’ It means it will not permit an administration to come into being and will do everything to bring about its collapse.”

To save something from ISIS needs practical action against ISIS

Öcalan added: "Barzani says: ‘I will save Rojava’. In fact this statement has a different meaning. To save Rojava from ISIS involves taking military action against the genocidal ISIS attacks. Otherwise, waiting for the defeat of the PYD resistance rather than of ISIS means saving Rojava from the PYD.” 

ISIS attacks have connections to Israel

Öcalan said the ISIS attacks have links to Israel, adding: “The intention is to create an Israel in that territory. The place names in this area. For instance, Suruç comes from the Hebrew name Saruch,who was aa ancestor of Abraham and Moses. Harran comes from the name of Moses’ brother, Haroon. All these names are in the Torah. There has always been a wish to found an Israel here. The GAP [South East Anatolian Project] serves this. When the GAP project began in 1978 I was in Urfa. The project was designed to seize the land and water of the people. No one can oppose the policies of Israel. Ecevit wanted to, but they stopped him. ISIS is an Israeli project. The AKP cannot resist against this. They threatened him and the government was almost toppled.”

What is occurring with ISIS is a high intensity war

Öcalan said the ISIS attacks were "high intensity war", adding: "what is happening at the moment is high intensity war, as a matter of fact. I mentioned this in my defence when I listed low intensity, medium intensity and high intensity war. Our people should shape their life according to this war. Just as the people of Gaza have structured their lives according to war, so should the people of Kurdistan. They should be involved in total resistance to this attack.”

At the meeting Öcalan used the expression: "as Kurds even our right to life has not been recognised",  He added that Kurdish lawyers and jurists should review what legal system they are operating in and what law they are practicing.  

‘They are taking revenge on me’

Öcalan mentioned the life imposed on the Kurds by capitalist modernity, saying: "Here in a cell all responsibility lies with me. Philosophically I am in a situation where revenge is being taken on me.  If I write a book I’ll write it on this subject: 'Taking revenge on Apo'. What is my crime? My crime is to invite people to be free. They are taking revenge on me for inviting people to be free. However, even the fundamental right to life is not recognised for us. We are expected to be agricultural labourers.  In Urfa 500,000 people are agricultural labourers. In my day they went to work in the cotton fields in Çukurova.  They would work 20 hours a day, with no rights to health or education and no job security. In fact, no right to life. I went once, then I said never again. I am content now to live in a cell, but I wouldn’t accept a life of servitude as an agricultural labourer."

Criticisms of local government

Öcalan also criticised local government administrations and their style of politics.

“While the understanding of freedom should be dominant in all areas, fondness of position is dominant. There is a strange kind of careerism. Someone becomes a mayor and they want to be a member of parliament, and then when they become an MP they want to be a minister. But they don’t fulfil the requirements of the position. They can’t even work together as much as the system parties. There is a landlord mentality, whereas, in fact, even a landlord expends some effort”.

Öcalan added: “I said, 'we should communalise our water, our land and our energy. Let us communalise our life.’ By this I meant let us do this in local government. In practice this is essential.”

Situation in Rojava is a violation of the ceasefire

According to Dinç, Öcalan said the following regarding the “process of resolution.”

"Dams, military posts, security roads and the state of truce are being exploited,” adding that the situation in Rojava amounted to a violation of the ceasefire.

Öcalan continued thus: “At the moment in Rojava there is conflict. When giving me a book here they make me sign 5 times for it. But they are reluctant to put a signature towards resolving a pressing historic question like the Kurdish question. I am prepared for an end to armed actions, but they do not want to negotiate. In order to gain the release of the Mosul consulate hostages they say they negotiated with ISIS, but they won’t negotiate with us. They haven’t even released sick prisoners. Israel released a thousand people in order to gain the release of one person. At the beginning of this process the PKK released 50 people, but they won’t even release sick prisoners. They say they want the people at Makhmur to return, but they have to provide legal guarantees of non-prosecution. The same applies to guerrillas. There is a need for a legal footing.”

The Kurdish leader sent his greetings to all the people of Kurdistan, first and foremost the people resisting in Rojava.