International Initiative
Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan
P.O. Box 100511, D-50445 Koeln
Telephone: +49 221 130 15 59
Fax: +49 221 139 30 71
E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
Url: www.freedom-for-ocalan.com

Cologne, 10 July 2001

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE BRIEFINGS:
"Ocalan says...":

The following is a translation of exerpts from statements PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan made to his lawyers during their last legal visit on 10 July 2001. Mr Ocalan commented both on the submissions he has prepared for the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and on the political dimension of the international conspiracy that led to his abduction from Kenya in February 1999. The statements being as highly condensed as they are and bearing references to a number of incidents, doubtlessly need more annotation than we can give here.
We hope, however, that the translation of these exerpts will help to understand some of the issues that are at stake on a legal and political plane.


On The Submissions To The European Court Of Human Rights

In my submissions, I tried to explore the concept of state from my own point of view, in an attempt to pave the way for ingenious thought and a mental revolution. A spiritual analysis that shall have repercussions on both politics and law is its objective. A new ethics of freedom and a new phenomenon in law may emerge from that. Ethics, in its essence, converges with law. My submissions may serve the development of a new ethics of freedom and a new conception of law. In the second part of my submissions I shall elaborate a bit on European law and on how we can place law at the foundation of politics, and I'm quite ambitious in this respect.

Third Sphere Theory

In my submissions, I refrained from an analysis of society in the classical meaning just as much as an analysis of the state. Theory and Practise of the Third Sphere, i.e. civil society and its organisations , that's what I call the Third Sphere Theory. A civil society, in other words a Solution in the Third Sphere, is inevitable. It is for this reason that I urge you to spent magnificent efforts both on a theoretical and practical level. I hope my book will be instrumental. The second book shall be more explanatory.

Sparking Off Discussions

My submissions seem to go beyond Marxism - that's what I think, some may criticise that, that is not very important. An interesting discussion may come up. I rest the human being, law and politics on a scientific foundation, make them comprehensible. You will have to understand religion, mythology and literature. Adorn yourselves with a profound consciousness of history. You need a correct consciousness of history even to appreciate the taste of bread. You have to know a lot about history and sociology. Unless you do, bread, family, friendship, social relations, anything, life itself, will be of stale taste. I have been through that and have practically resolved it. I hope they will understand.

New Groupings

There are some new groupings for political parties. Those leaving the Virtue Party [Fazilet] and them will do a big service to Turkey if they manage to become a truly democratic party. If HADEP was a democratic party, no matter how dominated by Kurds, it can play its part by making the Kurdish people familiar with law and the republic. Inonu and similar groupings, in turn, can clear grounds for a democratic state based on the rule of law by making the Turkish people receptive for democracy.

On The Conspiracy

As a reply to the USA and to Naxakis I shall say: It is important how the conspiracy was organised. A clique from Turkey was involved in it. But Kenan Evran made a statement saying "they will use this man to bring woe upon us" . Annihilation was a part of it all. The essence of the decision taken as to my person is of crucial importance. This is what we have to elucidate. Not so much the killing of me as a person, but rather the fact that all the blood shed, the labour spent, the efforts made, were to be neutralised, Kurdish intellectuals and the people as a whole were meant to be paralysed. The source of it is Britain, and a layer of collaborationist Kurds has been involved in it. Turkey itself was unprepared. They had been exerting pressure to have me handed over from the time I was in Syria but they weren't involved in the planning. The planning can be traced way back to 1996 when it was said that Clinton and Simitis had arrived at an agreement to have me liquidated. Rather than liquidating the PKK as a whole, they had the intention to liquidate me.

The Part Played By The USA And Greece

It seems as if the USA and Greece had given me as a present, saying now you solve the Cyprus and Aegaeian question. There wasn't even an agreement, no deal, more like a wrapped up present. That's a devious thing. I feel the gift package theory is correct. The USA are cruel. They say kill him or let him live, whichever way you please. And that's not about my person. Kill the Kurds if you like or let them remain where you want them to be. They may live if they can. What does the Bush administration say about this? We reserve our right to self-defence against the USA. We expect an explanation from the USA. And we expect one from Greece.

The attitude of the USA was: kill them or use them as you please, but we would be happy if you could solve the Kurdish question. Greece, however, was directly speculating on my death. Some circles in Turkey are involved in this. But Turkey couldn't face it. During the first interrogation someone said to me: "We will spoil this game, we have to solve it fraternally". I didn't think that was very substantial in the first place, but it became more meaningful at a later stage and then I tried. Athens was disappointed when it turned out that I didn't die. They had made their calculations that Apo would behave like a vulgar resistance fighter. Talabani had laid an ambush, preparing to take over control over the PKK. That's a devious thing, too. All these need to be elucidated and understood in their profoundness.

A Trick Played On A People

It was a hideous trick. All these need to be written. I appreciate that they don't value me a lot, all right then, let them think whatever they want about me; but there's a people of 30 million that has stood up to fight, the blood of 30,000 martyrers, there's torture, pain and grievances, there are prisoners; there are the hopes and aspirations of a people. The grievances of millions don't mean anything to those who aimed at the values and hopes of the Kurdish people and its aspirations to make clean politics. Most importantly of all, it was intended to utterly destroy the freedoms of a people. That's the way it is. Independently of how much they might target me, think of the aspirations of a people risen up. There's absolutely nothing that Talabani wouldn't sell for two pence. The elite of the Greek state is of a very simple fabric. They were capable of selling out the values of a people for the sake of a petty interest in the Aegaeian, as a small gest. That is a profoundly corrupt attitude. It will be understood once the conspiracy has been exposed down to its very roots. Would the Turkish people have gained anything if things had gone that way? Not at all. And Ciller knew about it. the MHP had smelled the scent of the rent involved. Ciller said she had been the one to initiate the whole thing back in 93. Society would be uprooted and they would stay on top. And they would have killed those who survived, not hundreds but hundreds of thousands would have died. They would have made some concessions to Greece in terms of Cyprus. At the end of it, who would have gained? The collaborationists would have caused Turkey to moan and groan for some 50 more years. The gangs of organised crime and the off-shore bankers would have remained at the head of Turkey.


It Was Important For Me To Stay Alive

At that time it was pivotal for me to stay alive in order to expose the conspiracy. The conspiracy has been neutralised. From now on, it's no longer important if I die. What I'm saying to those who wish to follow me, my comrades, the Kurds, has nothing to do with pacifism, they'll arrive at an understanding of it if they're smart: Instead of vulgar resistance, a state based on the rule of law, secularism, a democratic republic and unity of territory on this basis are fine things. But everyone will have to keep their word. If the state is to deceive us the conspirators abroad will win. The honest people of Turkey, Turkey itself will loose. That can't be what honest people in Turkey want. This game has been going on for 200 years now. For 25 years it has been played on our backs. They tell the Kurds to stage an insurgency and tell Mustafa Kemal to execute them. That's how they got Mosul and Kirkuk. It's the policy of freeing the hen and setting a fox loose on it. Now they want Iraq, they try to get it by instrumentalising us. I took a stand against that, decisive steps have been taken, it will be rather difficult for them to get Iraq now. The PKK just started to understand that. Kurdish and Turkish intellectuals just started to realise what's going on. I'm not opposed to Turkish-Greek friendship or Turko-European relations. But it's not right to establish them on the basis of a conspiracy. Turkey needs to save itself from the impact of conspirational relations.

Understand Me Correctly

A Democratic Republic will be a voluntary safeguard against secession. Cultural diversity is richness. Let there be neither black nor white, but seven different colours.
It is a devious thing to hand over the leader of a people like this. The Kurds ought to soundly analyse the consipracy, not for my sake but for their own sake, and they ought to ask for satisfaction. Well, they shouldn't support me or they shouldn't shout my name, if they decide to support me they have to do it in a really conscious way. All of you have to support me with acute awareness, full consciousness and high responsibility. You have to arrive at an understanding of the fact that you're being made part of a game. That's not only important for the PKK but for all Kurds. Europe and Israel need to be exposed for what they do. The Kurds shouldn't pity me but themselves. It's a pity for them, let them realise that. It's not a simple thing to accept me as a leader and cry out my name. You need a truly sound consciousness and you have to be organised. Urge for your freedom as much as you can, enforce self-defence, peace and fraternity as much as you can. All of you would have been killed if I hadn't resisted. But I won't be living forever, and you have to educate your minds in order to prevent this from happening. Liberation requires a high degree of awareness, persistance and soul. All of you have to organise your minds. They might call you traitors. But it's them who are the real traitors of their motherland. They're the knaves of foreign powers. Human rights and peace to the very end, get organised in these terms.

The Greek People Should Hold Their Government Responsible

Decisions concerning myself or the Kurds are not being taken on governmental level but on NATO level. I do not declare Europe our enemy. What I want is a democratic solution. And there's no hositility against Greeks involved, either, but I want the Greek people to hold their devious administrators responsible for what happened. By way of reply to Naxakis, I shall say that we will not forgive them, not in a thousand years time. They will be held responsible. Even if they are to unite with the Turks we will resist. Law, European law has been trampled upon. The European Court of Human Rights will have to rule that. When I was up in the skies all airports of Europe were closed to me by virtue of a high level decision. The inner face of Europe, its reactionary face, was revealed then. Why don't the British journalists write about this? They write huge articles about small things, but they don't write about this.

I'm Determined To Find A Solution

I'm intensely preoccupied with exploring ways for a solution. The labour and the part played by the Kurds in the national war of liberation was decisive. And now, their labour will be decisive for the process of democratisation of the republic. You have to engage in obstinacy, be as stubborn in your resistance as you are meaningful, make it a real resistance, not a vulgar one. I don't find dying and killing very meaningful. It's a good thing to cherish life, live and let live. To what extent have you lived, to what extent have you made others live, to what extent have you become free, to what extent have you made others free? How free and how beautiful was my life, did I render your lives more free and more beautiful? Theory, politics, ethics and philosophy should serve this end. If you happen to be unlikable, it's not because you're physically ugly but because you're slaves. You are not likeable if there's no meaning to what you do, if you're understanding is shallow. That's what I call wretchedness. I'm saying this because I don't want the blood of 30,000 martyrers to be shed in vain. The rememberance of the martyrs is one of the forces enrichening the meaning of life. And that is not a small thing.