İSTANBUL - PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's letter read in Newroz 2013, which is considered the beginning of the "solution process", is still the key to the peace that has been longed for for years, even though violence policies have been in place for the last 6 years in the Kurdish issue.

 

Celebrated as a holiday by the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia due to the arrival of spring, Newroz is considered to be synonymous with "resistance" for the Kurds. The struggle of Ironmonger Kawa against the tyrant Dahhâk turned into a historical legacy for the Kurdish movement. The Newroz celebrations, which was celebrated inside the neighborhoods in small alleys in the 1990s, turned into celebrations in which millions of people gathered today shouting their demands for "freedom" and "peace".

 

One of the most important year in these terms was the 2013 Newroz when PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's letter was read, which was considered to be the beginning of the solution process. During the years 2014 and 2015 when the solution process was in place, Turkey was making progress in every sense and a hope for peace was felt among the peoples of the country.

 

Öcalan's thoughts were communicated to the public through the HDP İmralı Delegation that visited him during this period. While the hope for a solution was strengthened with the protocol signed by the parties at the Dolmabahçe Palace, the AKP government, which ended the negotiations, shelved the solution process.

 

With the end of the solution process, Öcalan said, "If the solution process ends, the coup mechanics will come into play", which was later came true and a coup attempt took place on July 15, 2016. The deadlock Turkey was dragged into then, continues today.

 

2013 NEWROZ: A ROAD MAP

 

Öcalan's messages at the Newroz celebrations between 2013-15, when the hope for peace was at its peak, made the country and the peoples breathe. Öcalan shared the "Road Map" he prepared on the Kurdish issue with the İmralı Delegation on February 23, 2013, and asked for it to be shared with the people during the Newroz celebrations. At the last meeting held on March 18 before Newroz, Öcalan said, “We have already prepared the beginning of the negotiation. The actual negotiation will be formalized after the law passes."

 

'LET THE ARMS HUSH AND POLITICS SPEAK' 

 

The declaration sent by Öcalan was shared in Diyarbakır Newroz where more than 2 million people attended. Öcalan stated the following in this declaration: “Our fight has not been and cannot be against any race, religion, sect or group. Our fight has been against oppression, ignorance, injustice, depression, all kinds of oppression and cruelty. We have sacrificed our tens of years for this people and paid a great price. None of these sacrifices, these struggles were in vain. Kurds have regained their selves, originality and identity. We have come to a point where the arms hushed and the politics spoke. The modernist paradigms that ignores and excludes have been shattered. The blood  flows from the bosom of this geography regardless of them being Turks, Kurds, Laz or Circassians. The policies of oppression, annihilation and assimilation of the last century based on Capitalist Modernity refers to the efforts of a narrow, ruling elite, that does not bind the people, ignoring all efforts of peace and history. Today, I invite all of us to build our democratic modernity in accordance with our own culture and civillization as the two main strategic powers of the Middle East, in order to end this persecution together which is now clearly at odds with history and the law of fraternity. This is not the time for conflict, not the time to ignore each other but the time for alliance, unity and embracing each other."

 

TURKEY IS IN A DEADLOCK

 

The delegation expected to be sent to İmralı following Öcalan's message, was never sent there. President Erdoğan said they have shelved the solution process after that. With the solution being shelved, policies of isolation, oppression, annihilation and assimilation was put back into effect. While Öcalan's words when he said 'If the solution process ends, a mechanic of coup will be put into effect' came true and Turkey was dragged into a deadlock with everything that happened afterwards.

 

AKP, which kept the doors of Imrali closed for 4 years, had to open its doors to Imrali as a result of the hunger strikes launched by Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Leyla Guven in prison. Speaking to his attorneys on May 6, 2019, Öcalan underlined that the declaration was a key to end the conflict and form a basis of peace. However, AKP insisted on insolubility instead of taking a step for it, closed the doors to İmralı again after 5 visits and preferred to drag Turkey in a bigger deadlock in every sense.

 

MA / Ferhat Çelik