PKK held 11th congress

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) held its 11th congress in the guerrilla-controlled Media Defense Areas (MDA) on 5-13 September. The “victory and final congress” for the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish people was attended by 125 delegates coming from abroad and four parts of Kurdistan. The Central Committee of the PKK has released a declaration on the outcomes of the eight-day congress which has taken place with one year delay due to the environment of fierce clashes in 2012.

The PKK Committee said that the congress handled the recent political, ideological and organizational situation in the world, Middle East, Turkey and Kurdistan, and witnessed detailed debates and significant decisions, as well as legislation and program changes. PKK said the dominant capitalist modernity has caused severe social problems worldwide in the first quarter of the 21st century because of its failure to offer solutions to these problems on the basis of democracy, freedom and equality.

PKK said the five thousand year old statist system is collapsing today in the body of capitalist modernity, adding that; "The replacement of old statist policies and practices with new ones will however offer no solution to any problem. Democratic confederalism which is predicated on democratic society will once again claim its place in history as the only alternative solution and also pave the way for democratic socialism against repression and exploitation".

Pointing out that it is capitalist modernist imperialist powers and status quoist centers of power that peoples of the Middle East are rising against today, PKK said these illegitimate powers offered no solution by supporting new statist governments made up of sectarianism and nationalism. PKK underlined that “The current political situation and state of affairs in the Middle East make the course of leader Apo (Öcalan) the only alternative for the formation of a democratic society on the basis of an anti-capitalist confederal structure that embraces all ethnic, religious and social circles. As has been seen in Syria and Rojava, this third course stands as the only alternative policy to lead up to a solution”.

PKK highlighted that it was the 40 year old struggle of the Kurdish liberation movement that has enabled Kurds to gain this much strength and to become determinant in the course of political developments in the Middle East, and brought them closer to the point of building a free and democratic life in all four parts of Kurdistan today.

PKK underlined that it was not external powers but the self strength of Kurdish and all other peoples in the Middle East that would lead them to a free and democratic life. PKK evaluated the Rojava revolution which began in July 2012 as the practice of leader Apo's alternative, remarking that the revolution in western Kurdistan would also pave the way for the democratization of Syria and the Middle East.

“The Kurdish movement has done what was necessary in line with the democratic resolution process led by Kurdish leader Öcalan and established an environment enabling the Turkish government to take steps for the achievement of democracy in Turkey and a solution to the Kurdish question”, PKK said and pointed out that the AKP government's irresponsible attitude towards the process, hostility against the Rojava Revolution and wasting the steps of the Kurdish side forced the Kurdish movement to halt the withdrawal of Kurdish guerrillas from Turkey to southern Kurdistan.

PKK said that the primary goal of the Kurdish liberation movement for the coming term would be to build a common struggle and organization among peoples in four parts of Kurdistan with an aim to enhance the fight for democracy and freedom. The PKK Committee also called attention to the importance of ensuring a unity among Kurds and the realisation of the Kurdish national conference as a concrete manifestation of this unity. The party underlined that women and youth, as well as the oppressed circles, would be the leading actors in the construction of democratic socialism on the basis of democratic confederalism.

PKK called on Kurdish people to unite under the leadership of the party and to enhance the struggle for victory in all areas of struggle. PKK also called for solidarity from all peoples in the Middle East in its fight for democracy, freedom and socialism against exploitative and capitalist modernist hegemonic powers.

Source: ANF - BEHDINAN 18.09.2013

Remembering the 12 September 1980 military coup

On 12 September 1980, a National Security Council which brings together the chief of General Staff, general Kenan Evrem , and chiefs of staff of army and security forces took power by proclaiming a state of siege throughout the country. Politicians, from Ecevit to Demirel, Erbakan, Turkes are arrested, the National Assembly is dissolved and the activities of associations and trade unions are banned. The junta extends to a retired admiral, who becomes Prime Minister, Bulent Ulusu.

In the eight and a half months that followed the massacre of Maras, in late December 1979, the dead were at least 3856. That of September 12, 1980 is the third coup in Turkey in thirty years. The first was that of May 27, 1960, the second that of March 12, 1971. Between 1971 and 1984 violence and repression against the Kurds and against the left reaches its peak. A generation is essentially destroyed.

The junta exercises legislative and executive power (and the judiciary through the military courts) and says it will bring political stability, an end to civil violence, restore Kemalism and impose the discipline necessary for economic reforms. The junta left power in 1983. The legacy is heavy: some fifty militants (mostly leftwing people) are sentenced to death, more than 400 leftist activists were killed, tortured to death or disappeared. More than 600 thousand people have been taken into custody, 85 thousand incarcerated for long periods. Thousands of trade unionists and intellectuals imprisoned, many academics dismissed. In contrast, the National Security Council authorizes far-right militants like Abdullah Catli (wanted for murder including that of seven students in Ankara) to go to Europe to "fight against the Armenians."

The military act galvanized by what they perceived as the nearing disintegration of some vital values imposed by Ataturk: national unity, 'Turkishness', populism and secularism. Values under attack, according to the military, either the left or right, by Kurds, marxists and the Islamists. The military act with a sense of great urgency in the period in which they hold the power to rebuild the governing authority. An attitude that make some commentators using the term 'velvet coup' to define the golpe. Nothing is far from the truth though: in 1983, when returning power to civilian rule, the military has officially 592 deaths on its conscience. Furthermore 60 thousand people are arrested within three years of military rule (according to figures by the generals themselves). Of these 54% are left-wing activists, 14% right-wing militants and 7% of Kurds. These data contrast sharply with those provided by the International League for Human Rights which claims that between September 1980 and September 1982, the Kurds detained have been at least 81 thousands.

The generals create an ultra-nationalist and conservative regime close to the far right and declare that any ideological choice other than Sunni Islam is considered a "perversion" and needs to be treated with psychiatric treatment (with doctors from the school of Lombroso). The use of Kurdish language is banned, on the mountains of Kurdistan appear writings like "happy is he who can say I am Turk", in prison is mandatory reading the "Discourse" by Mustafa Kemal. A draft Constitution is written according to which general Kenan Evren is appointed president of the Republic and exempts generals from any criminal liability. The Constitution eliminates almost all the freedoms that had survived the previous coup in 1971. The new constitutional chart is based on control. It strengthens the powers of the president, giving him the right to dissolve the Assembly and enact laws by decree. It reduces the parliament to a single chamber and reduces the role of political parties.

But perhaps the heaviest article is Article 14 which limits the freedom of individuals and organizations, and prohibits the political struggle based on class, language, race.

A referendum is called to approve the new Constitution. The "yes" 'won' with 92% of the votes. But to vote "no" had been declared an act of treason against the motherland.

These are the figures (possibly they are higher) of the military coup:

650,000 arrests

1 million 683 thousand people investigated

7,000 death penalty demands

517 death penalty executed

50 hanging

98,400 people sentenced for membership of an illegal organization

388,000 people had their passport withdrawn

30,000 people were forced to go into exile

171 people died as a result of torture

937 films were censored

14,000 people were stripped off their citizenship

299 people died in prison

400 journalists were sentenced to a total of four thousand years in prison

Source: ANF - NEWS DESK 12.09.2013