Peace in Kurdistan Campaign celebrates in a written statement the Kurdish campaign and struggle for freedom launched on 15 August 1984.

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign said in a statement that the campaign "heralded the start of a new chapter in the Kurdish resistance against Turkish oppression and denial of their existence."

The statement added: "Over the decades that have followed, the struggle initiated by a small but determined force of Kurdish guerrilla units, “the liberation units of Kurdistan”, has grown into a mass movement of the people. The Kurdish movement has been transformed from a struggle for very survival into a sophisticated and far reaching political project whose unprecedented ambition in its ultimate objectives embrace every facet of society, the economy, the environment and the interweaving network of relations between men, women, ethnicities and classes. This consists of the total transformation of all the mechanisms of organising society and how people look at their world."

Peace in Kurdistan underlined that "the unity and confidence of the Kurds has been achieved against the odds through the hard experience of resistance to Turkish state oppression and its efforts to subordinate and control them by attempted wholesale eradication of their culture, language, heritage, memory, community and political organisation. An understanding that the key to liberation lies within their own self-confidence and capacity as a people has been a direct consequence of the process that began on 15 August. Kurds have been instilled with the belief that no outside power can liberate them; that task can be accomplished by themselves alone." 

The statement continued: "Over the years, this new chapter in Kurdish history, led by the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan, has inspired a great revival in Kurdish culture and a flourishing in creativity across various fields from music to film making. 

That national political struggle has inspired the Kurdish youth and people of all ages who have found a voice and are now able to speak in their own language in increasing numbers. 

There is a great pride in their own heritage and a recognition that freedom is well within their grasp despite setbacks." 

The statement said. "The developments in the Kurdish movement from the 1980s have brought about a maturing of the national consciousness of the Kurdish people which has been shaped and strengthened by the sacrifice and leadership of those who led the resistance which began to take its modern shape with the uprising that started on 15 August 1984.  

The Kurdish struggle has taken on a new course since those times with the pursuit of peace and reconciliation, but the fundamental aims and objectives continue unchanged."   

This anniversary, underlined Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, "is a time to remember the pioneers of the movement and to honour all the martyrs who paid the ultimate sacrifice. It is an occasion to draw further inspiration from the courage and sacrifice of those who came before." 

Peace in Kurdistan ended its statement by saluting "the resilience and courage of the Kurdish men and women who continue to resist oppression and tyranny in Turkey, in Rojava, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and wherever they face the horrors inflicted by state and jihadi terrorism. The struggle continues until the day of victory is assured."