Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Statement On The Imrali Verdict

Statement To The Press And General Public,

     The conspiracy that started with the abduction and handing
over of our national leader to the Turkish Republic on February
15, 1999, has now passed its first phase with the decision of
Imrali court on June 29, 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 meeting of the Turkish National Security
Council just prior to the verdict. Our president's trial, followed
by the Turkish and Kurdish peoples, has been on the world agenda,
and the date of June 29 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 June 29, 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
June 29, 1999