Ozgur Politika
Jan 23, 2002
MHA / FRANKFURT 

PKK Council of Leaders asked for the demand for Kurdish education to be spread. Participated in the “Gundem” program on Medya TV the other day, PKK Council of Leaders member Osman Ocalan considered the repression on the campaign “insistence on the wrong”. 

Ocalan emphasized that the demand was legitimate, drawing attention that the circular of the Interior Ministry violated the Constitution. Ocalan continued to say the following: “The circular violates the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees the right to submit petition for everybody. Therefore our people should file charges.” 

The Kurdish leader also said the following: “If they do not want political crisis while they have economic crisis on their hand, the way to democratic solution should not be closed. We insist on our positive stance. We will reinforce the steps we have taken at our 8. Congress.” He called on the Kurdish people to participate in the campaign with a spirit of mobilization, asking for it to be spread even to villages. 

Ocalan underscored the fact that the Kurdish people should speak Kurdish everywhere, adding the following: “We carry out a struggle for honor. Nobody who does not struggle for his/her own mother tongue can say he/she is honorful.”

“Kurds did all they could”

Ocalan stressed that the Kurdish party did all it could to solve the problems within the framework of democratic unity. He said the following: “I need time, Turkey says. Everybody has offered support but Turkey has misunderstood it and missed the opportunities. Today the conditions of neither the world nor Turkey offer opportunity for the existing regime to continue as it is.”

Stating that nobody could criticize PKK for not being serious, Ocalan had to say the following: “They say that PKK is behind the campaign. Now, what is important is not whether PKK is behind it or not but whether the demand is legitimate or not. We make extraordinary effort to stop the violence. Palestine is not able to succeed in it but PKK has stopped it. Therefore PKK is the guarantee for Turkey to solve its problems within the framework of democratic unity. It should abandon its chauvinist, prejudiced approaches.” 

“The document of 12 articles is an expression of a very backward level”

Reminding that a document of 12 articles whose source was not known was published, Osman Ocalan said that it was important from the point of view that it could cause a debate even if it was at a backward level. But he reacted against the demand to abandon the word Kurdistan: “For one thing, the word Kurdistan is the name of a geographical place. It has been called Kurdistan for two thousand years. Every nation has a definition. Kurds are a nation. Guerrilla is an armed force, and like it or not, an armed force is a potential threat, it should be destroyed. Now, this is a very backward approach, nevertheless as it caused a ground for debate, it could be useful regardless of its content.” 

Ocalan asked for Turkey the following demands for a democratic and peaceful future: 

“- Life conditions of PKK President Apo should be improved.

- Kurdish should be recognized as an academic language.

- Kurdish people should be supplied opportunities to develop their culture.

- Our country called Kurdistan is a wreck, it should be destroyed. It should be developed economically, social programs should be accomplished, for it special programs should be gone into effect.

- If armed forces are to be eliminated a general amnesty should be declared. You cannot say to a guerrilla force who have been educated for years, who are determined and conscious to surrender.”