PKK statement on Ocalan verdict
Statement to the Press and General Public
The conspiracy started with the abduction and handing over of our
national leader to the Turkish Republic on 15 February 1999 has now
passed its first phase with the decision of Imrali court on 29 June
1999, despite his plea for peace and reconciliation.
This decision will never be acceptable to our people and our party. It
will place responsibility on the powers which led to this conclusion.
It will become a black spot in the history of the Turkish people, an
unforgivable crime with respect to humanitarian law, and is intended
to deny and annihilate the oppressed Kurdish people. It is patently
obvious that the judgment does not target an individual but is imposed
on an entire nation.
The decision was a foregone conclusion in light of chauvinistic
attitudes displayed by the government and the Turkish media and a
holding of the Turkish National Security Council just prior to the
verdict. Our president's trial followed by Turkish and Kurdish peoples
has been on the world agenda and the date of 29 June had been picked
deliberately. Those bringing down this verdict on this day, must know
that this is not the Kurdistan of 1925 and the Kurdish people are not
without leadership, unorganised and unarmed as they were in 1925 when
Turkey executed the Kurdish leader Shaik Sayid.
Our Presidential Council is monitoring the response of the
international powers who hold prime responsibility in this matter and
that of the Turkish Republic whose immediate reply to our proposal for
peace and a democratic resolution has been the gallows. The entire
personnel of our party, armed forces and front will not respond
lightly to this significant historical development and are prepared
for any eventuality. Our people at home and
abroad will participate in the broadest democratic and political
senses and will give warning to the world that this dangerous verdict
has potential consequences that could ignite an area far wider than
that of Turkey and Kurdistan.
The political death sentence handed down on our leader Apo on 29 June
1999 constitutes a state attack on our people's lawful democratic
rights and future freedom. For these reasons, all Kurdish national
forces and institutions as well as our friends must join together in
opposition to this verdict with sustained and restrained protests in
support of "Freedom for our leader Apo and Peace in Kurdistan".
In the same way, political circles in Turkey and the world powers must
make their response to this verdict clear and as promptly as possible.
No one can be in any doubt that the PKK Presidential Council will be
closely observing the positions taken by all parties in this first
phase following the passing of the death sentence on Imrali and will
make its response in the light of developments.
The verdict that history will pass on our people and our leader will
be acquittal.
PKK Presidential Council, 29 June 1999.
Translated from the Turkish original.
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