Kurdish Leader Ocalan: Officials are meeting me

NEWSCENTRE (DIHA) – According to ANF, the imprisoned leader of the PKK Ocalan stated that although the officials who were visiting him were soldier at the beginning, now he is visited by a delegation composed of officials. "Considering the recent statements from the government I reckon that these visits might end" added the Kurdish leader.

Here is the news of ANF as follows: In the course of his weekly lawyer visit PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said "On one hand the PM Erdogan is sending delegations to talk to me on the other hand he is using a nationalistic jargon, worse than the opposition leader Kiliçdaroğlu. It is obvious that the PM aims at nationalists' votes however this attitude does not help the solution." Ocalan also said that such short term calculations instigate nationalism rather than contribute a solution for the Kurdish problem.

Ocalan continued: "The things will be clearer after the referendum, between 15-20 September. I will advise the Kurdish people to wait until this date. However, if there will be no concrete changes then I will not take any responsibilities and KCK will take responsibilities of its own decisions. I am ready to play my role as long as the government takes concrete steps. However, if not there are examples like Northern Cyprus and Kosovo. If the problem is not solved then there will be two different powers in ‘Kurdistan’ which are KCK and the Turkish state.

The situation reminds me 1999 when I was brought to Turkey. At the beginning the soldiers were coming and talking to me that did not lasted long. It is likely that the same situation repeats itself. In any way I will be updating the public about the dialog and about any other improvement."

Concerning the boycott campaign against the constitution referendum Ocalan said rhetoric themselves do not suffice the boycott should be extended and deepened. He also stated that Democratic autonomy is not based on one ethnicity or a region but Democracy. "For instance the Arabs in Hatay and Adana will also enjoy the autonomy, as well as all the other ethnic and religious groups. It is not based on merely Kurdish identity or it is not limited to Kurds only. It will comprise Aegean and Black Sea regions as well as central Anatolia. What we are doing is questioning nation-state notion which is result of capitalist modernity. Europe is also dealing with this matter. It is obvious that nation-state is too narrow for nations, peoples and social classes. It is like an 'iron cage' suggested by Weber." added PKK leader.

Ocalan also stated that for the democratic autonomy the most important thing is the people's will and it prescribes restricting the power owned by the central administration and giving more power and competencies to the local authorities.

The PKK leader further stated that what the Turkish republic has aimed at creating is the Turkish identity which is a 'Turkist ideology created by non-Turks.' He also added that this Turkist- fascist ideology of Ittihad Terraki has also inspired Hitler. "What we are challenging is the unfairness that although the Kurds played an important role in the foundation of the republic their existence has been denied since then." added Ocalan.

DIHA banned from covering the PM’s meeting in Diyarbakir
Journalists from Dicle News Agency (DIHA) have been banned from covering the Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s referendum campaign in Diyarbakir. The Governor Office of Diyarbakır stated that the permission was denied by the Prime Minister Office’s Press Consultants.

While the Turkish PM states in his every speech that he is against the bans and the new constitution will bring more freedom and democracy, besides the correspondents of DIHA, Firat News Agency (ANF) and the Kurdish daily newspaper Azadiya Welat were denied permission to cover the PM’s campaign.
On the other hand, Reporters’ Trade Unions of Turkey (TGS) condemned the oppressions of governments on Kurdish newspapers while Kurds in Batman protested the decision by selling daily pro-Kurds newspaper Günlük. Kurdish people sold two thousands Günlük newspaper to domanstrate their support to Kurdish press.
Kurdish Daily Newspaper Azadiya Welat and second Kurdish newspaper Rojev had been closed up by a court decision a week ago,.

Two deceased Kurdish guerrillas identified
PKK’s armed wing People's Defense Forces (HPG) unveiled the identities of two members who lost their life in a clash with the Turkish soldiers in Agri province on 1 September, reported by ANF. According to the news, HPG stated that on 1 September at around 18:30 a clash broke out in Tendurek Mountain between HPG members and soldiers which was running an operation which left 2 HPG members dead. The deceased HPG members are called: Fesit Bozkurt born in 1983 and Ahmet Salih born in 1987.
It is reported that thus the number of the Kurds who lost their life since the declaration of ceasefire on 13 Augusts reached 11.

DTP’s boycott campaign continues
Democratic Society Party’s (DTP) campaing for boycott referendum is continuing. There was a meeting in Van held by DTP while PM Erdoğan visits Diyarbakır for referendum campaign. Extreme security measures have been taken for both meeting, particularly for Diyarbakır.
It was alleged that AKP brought thousands of people to show up in Diyarbakır meeting from outside of Diyarbakır since there is not enough participator appeared from Diyarbakır. On the other hand, DTP’s boycott meeting in Van occurred by a huge crowd.

(gü)