KONGRA-GEL Co-Presidency Council released a statement marking the 40th anniversary of the August 15 Initiative, when the Kurdish freedom movement fired the first bullet at the Turkish army in Eruh, Siirt in 1984. A 36-strong guerrilla force led by the legendary commander Mahsum Korkmaz – also known by his nom de Guerre Egîd (“the Brave”) – carried out the first attack against the Turkish occupying forces that day, which is considered the beginning of the armed struggle of the Kurdish liberation movement.
KONGRA-GEL congratulated the freedom fighters, Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, the prisoners, the people of Kurdistan and progressive humanity on the 15 August Initiative, saying: “We commemorate all the martyrs of the revolution with respect and gratitude in the person of the great commander Comrade Egîd. On this occasion, we congratulate the families of martyrs and offer our greetings and respect.”
“Before the 15 August Initiative, despair and helplessness were the fate of the Kurdish people in the four parts of Kurdistan”, KONGRA-GEL said, recalling that after the Ağrı rebellion, the occupying Turkish state wrote on Mount Ararat: ‘The imaginary Kurdistan is buried here’.
The statement continued: “With the 15 August Initiative, the dead soil that the invaders sprinkled on the people of Kurdistan was removed. The grave made by the occupiers on Mount Ararat became the common grave of occupation and betrayal with 15 August.”
On this basis, KONGRA-GEL said, 15 August was the foundation of a social revolution and a women’s army by showing its effect in four parts of Kurdistan. “If ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’ [Woman, Life, Freedom] has become the purpose of life in Kurdistan, the Middle East and the world today, this move is the basis of it.”
The statement also drew attention to the global campaign demanding freedom for Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question, and stated that “the most strategic force in the success of this campaign is undoubtedly the guerrilla force”.
“Therefore, we as a people must always increase this power. The young men and women of our people in particular should see it as essential to join the guerrilla during the period of defeating the Turkish fascist regime and the Barzani family betrayal.”
“The Barzani family has now gone beyond betrayal and surrendered to the Turkish state with all its assets,” said the KONGRA-GEL statement, which further included the following:
“Therefore, the 41st year struggle of the freedom guerrillas is very important for the free future of the people of Kurdistan. According to this reality, our people and our friends must raise the struggle for the people’s revolutionary war and answer the freedom guerrillas on this basis.
In order to contribute to this process, especially in the social field, in the arms of the democratic nation, social construction activities must be addressed with all components of the system.
For the guerrillas and our people, this is the process of defeating the Turkish state fascism and the Barzani family betrayal. Leader Öcalan’s freedom process and the solution of the Kurdish question are also on this basis. The time has come, occupation and betrayal will be defeated together. Let the 41st year be the year of the defeat of fascism and betrayal.
With this thought and belief, we wish victory to the freedom guerrillas and the revolutionary people’s war in the 41st year struggle, and we offer our greetings and respect.”