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ANKARA - SODAP Executive Committee member Tulay Korkutan pointed out that the government is extending a hand on the one hand and attacking northern and eastern Syria on the other, and emphasised that a real peace can only be possible with concrete steps, not with the imposition of surrender.

 

Last week, while the AKP-MHP bloc gave some messages to the public about the "Kurdish question", it also increased its attacks against civilians in Northern and Eastern Syria. While this bloc accepted the isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, it also conditioned the liquidation of the PKK for the ‘right to hope’ to come to the agenda.  On 22 October, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Riha MP Omer Ocalan met with Abdullah Ocalan, who is also his uncle, in Imrali. After the meeting, Omer publicised the following words of Abdullah Öcalan: "Isolation continues. However, given the conditions, I have both the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the grounds of conflict and violence to a legal and political ground."

 

While the debate on the issue continues, Tulay Korkutan, member of the Executive Board of the Socialist Solidarity Platform (SODAP), evaluated this new agenda.

 

‘No meetings with lawyers yet, isolation is not over’

 

Regarding the Kurdish problem, which AKP-MHP call a ‘process’ but there is no concrete step or process, Tulay said, "Isolation still continues’ and said that the main purpose of the developments is to ensure the stability of the government." Tulay said, "Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been under isolation for a long time. His family and lawyers' requests to meet with him have been rejected each time on political grounds. He has not yet met with his lawyers either. As he himself has stated, the isolation still continues. It is clear that the main purpose of these developments, which started with Bahçeli's handshake show, is the redesign of the opposition and the stabilisation of the regime."

 

‘2025 will be the most difficult year of government’

 

Tulay stated that the real goal of the government, using the excuse of "strengthening the internal front", is to drag the opposition groups into inaction and emphasised the need for a strong line of struggle in the coming period against this. Tulay said, ‘It is very clear that behind the mind that makes Bahceli say these things is the palace regime, which has been vomiting blood on Turkish labourers, women, peoples and youth for 20-odd years; growing its own cronies by stealing their bread; appropriating every corner of the country to foreign capital; trying to suppress the democratic demands of the Kurdish people with oppression and persecution policies. The year 2025 seems to be the most difficult year for the government. Under these conditions, what is meant by strengthening the internal front is to drive the opposition into inertia. The government wants to realise its plans to exploit all the fault lines created within and around the forces of democracy in the last few years. As labourers, peoples, women, students and socialists, we have no choice but to raise a strong and effective voice against the fascist policies of the palace regime and to implement the practices of struggle."

 

Emphasis on ‘concrete steps’

 

Tulay said that they advocate that the struggle of the Kurdish people be crowned with an honourable peace and continued as follows "Of course, the following conclusion should not be drawn from what I have stated above. As socialists, revolutionaries and feminists, we support the Kurdish people's demand for an honourable peace and its realisation. It is important that the struggle of the Kurdish people for forty years is crowned with an honourable peace. However, it is also clear that this peace will be achieved by taking concrete steps rather than imposing surrender. First and foremost, it is necessary to prepare the ground for a democratic debate. If a truly honourable peace process is desired, it will only gain credibility through democratisation steps.

 

On the one hand it extends a hand and on the other hand it attacks Rojava'

 

Stating that the attacks on Northern and Eastern Syria clearly reveal the attitude of the government, Tulay drew attention to the contradiction. Tulay added, "After these discussions, the attack on Rojava reveals the real intention of the palace regime. Just as on the one hand, while shedding crocodile tears for Palestine, on the other hand, it cooperates with Israel by carrying fuel to the jets that hit Palestine; Now, while ‘extending a hand’ for peace on the Kurdish issue in order to redesign the opposition and ensure the stability of the regime, it is raining bombs on the civilian population living in Rojava under the name of ‘operation’. The places bombed in Rojava are civilian settlements and hospitals. In the footage, it was revealed that many civilians were injured and lost their lives. This attack on defenceless civilians is a massacre, genocide and war crime. It has also revealed the insincerity of the palace regime on peace."

 

‘Joint struggle is essential to end the attacks’

 

Stating that the Kurdish movement is trying to weaken its power with the war being waged, Tulay drew attention to the importance of joint struggle and said: "These wars initiated by imperialist powers in the Middle East are not in the interest of the peoples. Turkey's attacks against the Kurdish people in Northern and Eastern Syria are not independent from this. This attack is also a move to weaken the power of the Kurdish Movement. In order to put an end to these attacks, the peoples must struggle together. Socialist forces must also make great efforts to realise concrete demands against the war. It is essential to raise the struggle together on this issue."