What is the situation in Kurdistan briefly?

The Turkish State is in the midst of a political, social and economic crisis. The APP-MHP regime, the extreme right that governs, is taking its last breath, without being able to further legitimize its existence. For this party and for its leader Erdogan, the only possibility of survival is to destroy the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, so, given the proximity of the Turkish elections, in April the Turkish fascist State began a major escalation operation against the guerrillas in the mountains (operation Claw Lock). Destroying the guerrillas is destroying the heart of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement.

Since April, therefore, the mountain guerrillas have suffered daily the attacks of the second largest NATO army. But even though Turkey has all the technical and technological means, it has not been able to break the resistance of the guerrillas. Because the Turkish State, beyond failing to achieve the expected results, has suffered a total loss. The loss of soldiers has been such for Turkey that many of them have had to burn corpses to conceal the size of the loss to the people.

Faced with the impossibility of achieving its objectives, Turkey has followed different paths: on the one hand, it has intensified attacks with chemical weapons in the last two months, and on the other, it has increased the escalation of attacks on Rojava and its autonomous administration. After threatening the invasion, Erdogan has been killed since July through drones and shelling both civil and commanders, including major commanders in the war against the Islamic State (IS). We must understand in this context the violent attacks that have taken place in recent days. Since Saturday, the Turkish fascist state has been continuously bombing Rojava and north-west Syria, killing civilians, attacking hospitals, destroying oil production facilities and reducing the centre of the anti-terrorist coalition. Erdogan is already threatening surface invasion. The situation is very critical for the Rojava revolution and for the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, which is why it is very important that in the coming days our resistance should be protected and supported. Opportunities are also emerging to increase resistance and expand revolution.

Turkey has increased the intensity of the attack on Kurdistan in recent days, but, as you said, the attacks come much earlier. Even in recent weeks the Kurdistan Liberation Movement has been denouncing the use of chemical weapons. Journalist Steve Sweeney, from the British media Morning Star, has witnessed these symptoms of blurred vision attacks, crying, headache, nosebleed, respiratory distress, legend, cough... It produces a report on what has been documented, suggesting that the Erdogan government may be using chemical weapons, as the Kurdish people denounce. Despite these tests, the response of organisms such as the UN or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been silence, although they have not been used by the OPCW since the use of chemical weapons was banned. What is the reading of this silence?

There is enough evidence to conduct official research. In addition to Sweeney’s report, other reports and interviews suggest that the Turkish state is using banned chemical weapons. OPCW was born to ban the use of chemical weapons and to launch their disappearance. 193 Member States, including Turkey, have signed a treaty committing themselves not to develop, produce or use chemical weapons. But it is clear that this pact is not being fulfilled, at least as regards the allies of the imperialist or imperialist forces. So briefly, why has OPCW not started research? Because the State of Turkey is a respected member of the international community and a member of NATO, and there is no interest in formalising the war crimes committed by them. In fact, the US and Western forces are aware of the use of banned chemical weapons and weapons. Furthermore, the aggressions of both Bakur [North Kurdistan, on the borders of the State of Turkey] and Bashur [South Kurdistan, within the limits of the State of Iraq] require the authorization of the United States, where the sky is under its control.

“War on crimes is murdered by silence.” From this idea you started throwing the #YourSilence Kills campaign a few weeks ago. The responsibility for not raising the voice lies not only with international organisations, but also with the media.

The silence of the media responds to the same logic as the silence of OPCW. Western forces started violent wars in the Middle East for decades, but this has not caused much noise in the media, although many countries have been massacred in the name of “democracy”. We know the interests of the owners of the big media; without having to go too far in time, the war between Ukraine and Russia has revealed the role of most Western media: Justify and legitimise NATO’s interventionist and expansionist policies. It seems that with this war NATO has achieved legitimacy in pursuing its expansionist and genocidal policy.

What began with Yugoslavia will continue, and with the support of the media NATO will open up more wars in Europe. If the media showed the genocidal policies of the Western countries in the countries of the Middle East, the democratic image of the West would be distorted and everyone would realize that there is no civilised state that respects human rights. The oligopolies that run most of the media must therefore maintain the democratic aspect of the European Union. Furthermore, the Kurdistan Liberation Movement poses a threat to oligopolies and powers, as it represents a genuine revolutionary democratic alternative. They must therefore remain silent as regards attacks on the movement.

Does it therefore have the objective of breaking this silence?

We have to work in every way to break the silence. Despite the difficulty of our complaint, we must continue to work. Our goal is to break the silence. We want to promote mobilizations in different peoples and to put pressure on states to launch official investigations.

Recently, after the death of 17 guerrillas by Turkey, a group of young people gathered in the guerrillas said it in a note made public: “We have recently seen that the invading Turkish state intends to avenge ISIS by attacking those who defeated it, and this is done with the help of NATO. Although the Western powers formed a coalition against ISIS, they also protect the Turkish state of mercenaries. That’s a huge hypocrisy.” Can Western silence be read as an indicator of Turkey’s protection?

Yes, absolutely. We must also place the conflict that the Kurdish people are experiencing in a more general context. Capitalism is immersed in a global crisis, in an attempt to solve and restructure the system. All the imperialist forces are looking for ways to overcome the global crisis, but in the interest of maintaining or strengthening their hegemony, that is true. This confronts them with great contradictions. For example, Germany wants to be one of the major hegemonic forces in the next political cycle, but it needs on the one hand the resources of Russia, without which the German crisis has become more acute, and on the other hand it needs the support of EE.UU. In the case of NATO and Russia, faced with the inability to resolve the crisis, both needed the war in Ukraine. It is clear that NATO must create wars to give a false account of union and conceal internal contradictions. It now has the excuse of justifying its expansion project and turning it into a hegemonic force in this new phase of restructuring the system.

In the Middle East it is decades since the beginning of the violent wars; to achieve hegemony it is essential to control the Middle East and these violent wars demonstrate this (Kurdistan, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon…). Naturally, in this struggle for control in the Middle East, the Kurdistan Liberation Movement is an obstacle that is presenting and implementing a democratic alternative to the dominant and oppressive system.

Without the support of EE.UU, NATO and Western states, Turkey could not make a war on the scale of what it is doing. Turkey is one of the keys to the expansion of the so-called “great eastern project” and the exploitation of Middle East resources for western countries. But so far they have not been able to extend the project and liberalise the Middle East with the political and economic programme of the West. This has happened in many other countries, in Latin American countries. Very briefly, that is why we believe that the West is silent on the war crimes of Turkey.

Turkey attacks Kurdistan with the PKK in the spotlight and arguing that it is “against terrorist objectives”. But what exactly do you want to destroy?

Turkey’s aim, in addition to destroying the CPC, is to deny the identity and existence of the Kurdish people and to destroy everything that has built up the Kurdistan Liberation Movement revolution. The State of Turkey is afraid of what lies ahead, of a people exercising their right to self-defence and self-determination, of a people opposing domination and exploitation and of a people building their popular and democratic structures in the fight against the repressive forces.

The CPC is the vanguard and spirit of a new life based on freedom, love and cooperation, an image of the effective fight against patriarchy, colonialism and liberalism. While overcoming capitalist modernity and the current system of domination can bring great difficulties, the Kurdish liberation movement is a global hope because it is implementing a real democratic alternative. If the State of Turkey and international forces were not afraid, they would not lock the CPC leader, Abdullah Öcalan, in the worst state of isolation of the island prison. The conditions under Öcalan are the conditions of isolation and destruction that the Turkish State intends to impose on the Kurdish people as a whole.

The presence of the CPC on the EU list of “terrorist” groups makes it easier for Turkey to use this argument. If I am not mistaken, a campaign to launch CCPs from this list is also under way. Do you see opportunities to do this?

We do not see the possibility of doing so unless there is a substantial or substantial change in the policy and situation of the West. However, it is a job to do, we must fight for all the ways. It's also a question of legitimacy: being classified as a terrorist undermines the struggle. But, ultimately, the fight for self-determination and self-defence is legitimate. There is a war in Kurdistan and the PKK is defending the rights of Kurdish citizens, it is not terrorism. The imperialist states, which deny the rights of the Kurdish people, are terrorists.

Even the explosion in Istanbul a few days ago was publicly accused by the Turkish Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, of having been an attack by the Kurds. It is significant that, in view of the silence you are denouncing, these statements have been echoed by the international media. Do you want to read about it?

Remember what happened in Istanbul on 11 March 2004 in Madrid. As at that time in Spain, near the elections in Turkey, the explosion in Istanbul is being used to propaganda and legitimise genocidal policies against the Kurds. The narrative created by the Turkish State to accuse the PKK of aggression has been absolutely surreal. The Turkish State has used the attack to legitimise its colonial, fascist and genocidal policy. On the pretext of the attacks, the last few days have violently and unabated the liberated areas of Rojava and northeast Syria, now threatening superficial aggression. In these four days there have been more than 26 deaths. Who are the terrorists?