May 1st Statement From The PKK

Activists, Laborers, Workers, And The Oppressed
Peoples!

     On this day of unity, struggle, and solidarity with the
working class, on this very May Day of 1999, the
working class, the oppressed peoples and laborers all
over the world, are the target of attacks from many
directions and live under dire circumstances. The
imperialist system is trying with every means to wipe
out the gains of this class obtained through arduous
struggles and great sacrifices. The oppressed face
intense violence that ranges from massacres to
propaganda based on lies. Thus, the oppressed are
forced to accept powerlessness, submission, and a
minimal existence. After the demise of the socialist
system, every passing day the conditions have become
more alarming. The rights and gains of the oppressed
are taken back. While the struggle that the working
class, the oppressed peoples, and laborers wage for
their most legitimate rights are branded as
"terrorism", the most gross fascist practices are
sanctified in the name of democracy and human rights.
It has become crystal clear that, as part of this
roll-back process, the imperialist system wants to
impose a dark period on humanity.
     The Turkish policies against the Kurdish people and the
working class are a shocking expression of this
reality. Turkey has been transformed, literally, into a
rabid fascist force thanks to the support provided by
the imperialist forces, especially by the U.S. Carrying
to power the MHP and the DSP [two of the
ultra-rightist, pan-Turkist parties in Turkey] is the
"natural" conclusion of this practice. By bringing
these two fascist parties to power right before the May
Day of 1999, the imperialists have shown to our people
and to the laborers in Turkey their dirty goals. The
imperialists who have approved without an objection the
destruction and depopulation of thousands of Kurdish
villages, massacre of tens of thousands, the torture of
hundreds and thousands, the expulsion of millions of
our people, and the unceasing violation of human
rights, have finally raised Turkey to a position [of a
regional power] and are getting ready to unleash it on
the peoples of the Middle East, of the Caucasus, and
the Balkans. The colonialist-fascist regime not only
has turned life into hell for the Kurds and for Turkish
laborers, but also it intends to do the same for the
people of the above mentioned regions in the near
future. To prepare the people for this mission, the
Turkish regime has been pumping chauvinism among
Turkish masses.
     The national liberation movement of the Kurds is slated
for elimination. This is the future seen fit for the
people of Kurdistan. That is why our homeland is turned
into a blood bath. That is why one of the distinguished
leaders of socialism and the international working
class, the leader of our nation, comrade Abdullah
Ocalan, was kidnapped and handed to the torture state,
Turkey. That is why the Kurdish satellite station, the
voice of the oppressed, Med-TV, was closed down on the
50th anniversary of NATO. And that is why the fascist
duo of the MHP-DSP are brought to power [in Turkey].
With the latter two initiatives, the
imperialist-fascist coalition wants to put the last
nail into the coffin of the Kurdish national movement.
On the other hand, the laboring people of Turkey are
pauperized and stripped of human dignity. They are fed
with chauvinism and obliged to support the dirty war
against the Kurdish people. Turkish people are
entrusted with the role of becoming the executioners
of, first and foremost, the Kurds, and then of the
peoples of the Middle East, the Caucasus, and the
Balkans. As it is, the Turkish Republic is ready to
perform its role as the executioner of the peoples and
laborers in a much wider geography. Regrettably, while
doing all this, it also is striving to drag along the
laboring people of Turkey as accomplices.
     The only exit vis a vis this dangerous fascist force
[the Turkish Republic], which imperialism has fed and
unleashed on oppressed and laboring people, is to
mobilize by equipping ourselves with the spirit of
solidarity and struggle that May Day symbolizes. The
only effective way to fight against it is to respond to
its dirty wars with the wars of liberation. As a
requirement [of such commitments], we must claim and
protect socialism, democracy, and human rights. This is
how the people of Kurdistan, the laborers in Turkey,
and free nations threatened by the Turkish Republic can
be in solidarity with the working class and laborers of
the world. This is how they can achieve freedom,
liberation, and a life with dignity. At the same time,
this is the way they can prevent the annihilation of
oppressed nations and the enslavement of laboring
people.
     To push back this fascism, to protect our rights and
gains, and to free our oppressed peoples, Turkish
people's revolutionary, democratic, and vanguard
forces, its progressive unions and democratic mass
organizations, must replicate the current unity among
its forces in every arena of life and develop it on the
basis of the message and the spirit that May Day calls
for during this critical period that threatens the life
of our people.

Workers, Laborers, And Oppressed Peoples!

     It is time to move against imperialism, Zionism,
colonialism, and fascism. Raise the glorious banner of
May Day in unity, struggle, and solidarity. Join the
holy war of liberation in the mountains, in the arenas,
and in all facets of life with the badge of victory.
Stop the march of fascism. Fight with all you have to
make socialism, human rights, and democracy the
essential mode of living for all of humanity.
     Resist in all arenas and by all means against the
genocide that Turkish fascism and the striking power of
imperialism is committing in Kurdistan; resist against
the threat it constitutes to humanity. Unite around
Abdullah Ocalan, the distinguished representative of
socialism, democracy, and human rights, leader of our
oppressed nation. Do not let the Turkish Republic
eliminate the Kurdish nation and its leader. Mobilize
to defeat this fascist force which has become the
common enemy of humanity.
     Our party and our people marching under its leadership
will uphold the spirit of the May Day through its
guerrilla war, mass uprisings, and the war of the
'fedai'. Following the motto of "Life With The Leader,
Victory With Kurdistan", we will turn Kurdistan into
the burial ground for colonialist fascism and for
betrayal. Our party will raise the flag of socialism,
democracy, and human rights over every corner of our
beautiful Kurdistan.

Long Live May Day!
Long Live The Sacred Struggle Of Our People For
Freedom!
Long Live The PKK, A Symbol For Humanity!
Long Live Our National Leader, President Apo!

Central Committee of the PKK
May 1, 1999