The KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council released a statement on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the execution of Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Arslan, and Hüseyin Inan.
The KCK statement released on Sunday includes the following:
“We commemorate with respect Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Arslan, and Hüseyin Inan, three leaders of the socialist movement in Turkey, on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of their execution. Furthermore, we commemorate all the martyrs of revolution and democracy with respect and gratitude. Once again, we reiterate our commitment to the struggle of the martyrs and our promise of success. We condemn the policy of massacre, genocide, fascism, and those who are responsible for them with great hatred.
Also, it is with great sadness that we have learned that Ilhami Aras, one of the pioneers of the socialist movement in Turkey, has passed away as well. Comrade Ilhami Aras made great efforts within the struggle for democracy and socialism and made a great effort for the development of a common struggle in solidarity with the Kurdish people. On this occasion, we also respectfully commemorate him with respect and bow to his stance, struggle, and efforts.
While those who devoted their existence to freedom will be glorified by history, the miserable creatures of exploitation will be buried in the abysses of evil. Those who thought that they could destroy the hope of revolution and freedom with all the executions were proven wrong. Hope and the mentality of freedom prevailed. Those who thought that revolutionaries would die through executions died, and the revolutionaries continued to live in the hearts and struggles of the peoples. Like all revolutionaries, the leaders of the socialist movement in Turkey, Deniz, Yusuf, and Hüseyin, have continued to live in the hearts and struggles of the people ever since.
They have left us a great legacy. Its legacy is the utopia of democratic, socialist, free life and the strategy of common struggle of the peoples. Understanding the struggle and ideas of those leaders correctly and adhering to their memory is based on their utopia and way of struggling. Our movement has adopted an approach based on this and has upheld this approach ever since. Rêber Apo’s (Leader Abdullah Öcalan) commitment to the unity of peoples and the ideal of a democratic and free life, his great struggle for half a century, and his unprecedented efforts are known. The PKK was created with the aim of a free Kurdistan and democratic Turkey based on the democratic and free unity of the peoples by Rêber Apo, who was inspired by Mahir Çayan, one of the great leaders of the revolutionary movement in Turkey. The foundation of this was always the interconnection between the Kurdish struggle for freedom and the democratic socialist struggle in Turkey.
The Kurdish struggle for freedom has made great progress in the line of democratic socialism and has managed to turn it into a struggle for a free and democratic Turkey and a democratic Middle East. With his unshakable faith in the revolutionary socialist tradition, Rêber Apo formed his paradigm of ‘Democratic Nation’ and ‘Democratic Confederalism’, which has shown the whole of humanity, particularly women, the true path to freedom and free life.
The hegemonic system of Capitalist Modernity is in a great crisis. It stumbled in a process of collapse. It is trying to get out of the situation through the third world war, which it has been waging with its methods for years. While Capitalist Modernity is heading towards collapse and dissolution, humanity’s search for a democratic, communal, free life is getting stronger day by day. Kurdistan, Turkey and the Middle East are among the places where this is the most concrete and strongest.
The strategy of joint struggle of the Kurdish people and the peoples of Turkey has yielded important results. The significant blow that the AKP-MHP suffered through it, is a significant blow that the genocidal colonialist fascist order and its perpetuators have suffered. Deepening this strategy, democratizing Turkey by working on the overthrow of fascism completely is the most fundamental duty of us as socialist, democratic and libertarian forces. History has put such a responsibility in front of us. We must embrace it and play our historical role by strengthening the unity and solidarity of the peoples. In a process in which fascism has suffered a significant blow, only with the further development of the unity of democratic forces and the growth of the struggle can the defeat of fascism and the success of democracy and freedom be realized. The democratic forces must develop their unity and solidarity and increase the struggle on this basis. We believe that this is the most meaningful attitude of being loyal to the memory of Deniz and all who came after him. Based on this, we call on the democratic forces to come together, to form a unity for a struggle in solidarity, and to realize the goal of free Kurdistan and democratic Turkey.”