After the proclamation of the Republic, monist policies against different peoples and beliefs, especially Kurds, were deepened. As the Republic left behind its 101st year, the conflicts and problems created by monist policies never ended. Every resistance and rebellion was suppressed with blood, revolutionary organisations and structures that were seen as "dangerous" were always targeted by the ruling powers.

 

Throughout the history of the Republic, the Kurdish question was one of the most prominent problems. The policies of annihilation and denial against the Kurds have never changed. The resistance against the policies of "Kurds should not see their mothers" continued uninterruptedly. Koçgirî, Şêx Seîd, Agirî, Zîlan, Dêrsim are just a few of these revolutions and rebellions. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as the PKK, was the last link in these revolts.

 

Abdullah Öcalan laid the foundations of the PKK with a meeting of six people held at the Çubuk Dam in Ankara on Newroz 1973. Öcalan and his friends founded the PKK on 27 November 1978 in the village of Fis in the Licê district of Amed (Diyarbakır).

 

The PKK was characterised by the government officials of the time as "3-5 marauders, bandits". Firstly, they were given a life expectancy of 6 hours, then this was increased to 72 hours and then to 1 week. However, the PKK, which was given a life expectancy of 6 hours, has been in existence for 47 years.

 

In 47 years, the PKK has gathered millions of sympathisers. Although it lost thousands of members in the conflicts, it grew bigger day by day. Its influence was not limited to Turkey and Kurdistan, but spread all over the world.

 

In these days of historic days regarding the solution of the Kurdish question, an important statement came from the PKK.

 

With his "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" on 27 February, Abdullah Öcalan asked the PKK to convene a congress. The PKK then declared a ceasefire on 1 March. The PKK announced on 9 May that it convened its 12th Congress and on 12 May it announced the historic decisions taken at the congress.

 

In the final declaration of the 12th Congress of the PKK, it was stated that "We have ended the work". The declaration stated that the congress was attributed to Ali Haydar Kaytan and Rıza Altun, two of the PKK's leading cadres who lost their lives.

 

It was stated that Kaytan died on 3 July 2018 and Rıza Altun died on 25 September 2019.

 

We have gathered curiosities about the PKK and the life of its founder Öcalan in a series of 3 news articles. In the first part of our file, we will present chronological developments about life of Öcalan and the founding process of the PKK;

 

LIFE OF ÖCALAN

 

Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan was born on 4 April 1949 in the rural neighbourhood of Amara in the Xelfetî (Halfeti) district of Riha (Urfa). He was born as the 4th child of a family of 7 children, 4 of whom were girls. He spent his childhood in Amara. He attended primary school in the rural neighbourhood of Cibin in Xelfeti between 1957-1962. He attended secondary school in Nizip between 1962-65 and high school in Ankara Land Registry and Cadastre Vocational High School between 1965-69. While he acquired a social culture that was predominantly religious in the village environment, he was introduced to socialist ideas while he was a student at Ankara Land Registry and Cadastre Vocational High School.

 

After Riha and Ankara, Öcalan came to Amed in the summer of 1969, where he worked as a land registry office clerk until the autumn of 1970. The process in Amed was one of the turning points for Öcalan. It was here that he was introduced to ideas about the freedom of Kurds.

 

After Amed, he enrolled in Istanbul University Faculty of Law and studied for one year. He became a member of the Revolutionary Eastern Culture Seedbeds (DDKO) and participated in its activities. He was influenced by Mahir Çayan, one of the leaders of the People's Liberation Party/Front of Turkey (THKPC), and his friends.

 

Abdullah Öcalan described his sympathies for Çayan in the following words during an interview in İmralı Prison on 14 October 2013: "Mahir defended the right to free self-determination. I have been following his line for 40 years and I have come to this day. I took this trust from Mahir Çayan and I am handing it over to them."

 

On 12 March 1971, following the military coup d'état, the General Staff issued a memorandum and the government of Süleyman Demirel was dismissed. A special government of technocrats was formed under the prime ministership of CHP deputy Nihat Erim. The government embarked on a programme called "Sledgehammer Operation" against socialist, democratic and libertarian forces.

 

At the time of the coup, Öcalan was a student in Istanbul. After achieving the required grade point average, Öcalan used his right to transfer and transferred to Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences. Thus, he travelled to Ankara again after a two-year hiatus.

 

At that time, the execution of Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan, the pioneers of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO) was on the agenda. Çayan and his 9 friends detained 3 foreign technicians in order to negotiate to prevent the execution of Gezmiş and his friends. Çayan and his friends were massacred on 30 March 1972 in the village of Kızıldere in Tokat-Niksar. Ertuğrul Kürkçü survived and was captured.

 

On 7 April 1972, a boycott was organised at the Faculty of Political Sciences against the massacre in Kızıldere and leaflets were distributed. Öcalan was one of the leading figures in this action. Öcalan was caught during the protest and was arrested and put in Mamak Prison. While Öcalan was in prison, Gezmiş, Aslan and İnan were executed in Ankara on 6 May 1972.

 

Öcalan was released on 24 October 1972 on the grounds of "lack of evidence" after being in prison for about 7 months. On his way out of prison, he went to the student house between Emek and Bahçelievler, where Haki Karer and Kemal Pir were staying, upon the advice and address given by a friend named Sadri.

 

Öcalan stayed and worked in this house for about 2 years. Afterwards, they were never separated again.

 

Kemal Pir would later describe Öcalan's visit to the house in the following words: "On the first day he came and asked to stay as a guest, but from the second day he became the host and started to give us instructions."

 

 Öcalan would say of Kemal Pir, "He was like my secret soul" and would describe the comradeship he had established with Pir and Karer as follows: "In the past, we did not sit and discuss with comrades at such length, we would look into each other's eyes, understand what we wanted to say and go on a mission on that basis".

 

The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) considers this period as the "First Leadership Birth". It was also during this period that Öcalan first announced to Haki Karar that "Kurdistan is a colony".

 

1973: MEETING AT ÇUBUK DAM

 

Öcalan, nowadays the "29th Kurdish Revolt" The foundations of the PKK, characterised as a terrorist organisation, were laid in 1973. Öcalan laid the foundations of the PKK with a meeting held in Ankara's Çubuk Dam during the 1973 Newroz. In addition to Öcalan, Ali Haydar Kaytan, Musa Erdoğan from Dêrsim (Tunceli), Mustafa Aksakal from Curnê Reşli (Riha/Hilvan), Halil Aslan from Elezîz and İsmail Bingöl from Gimgimli (Mûş/Varto) took part in the meeting.

 

Öcalan expressed his thesis that "Kurdistan is a colony" at this meeting and initiated the first group work. In the same year, a "Kurdistani" group carried out propaganda work among the youth of higher education. The members, except Ali Haydar Kaytan, later broke away from the group one by one.

 

18 MAY 1973

 

Communist Party of Turkey Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML) leader İbrahim Kaypakkaya, who was captured wounded in Dêrsim, was murdered under torture in Amed. Öcalan was working on organising a group in Ankara during this period.

 

JANUARY-APRIL 1974

 

On 14 October 1973, the CHP, which came first in the elections, formed a coalition government with the MSP led by Necmettin Erbakan and issued a general amnesty for political prisoners arrested by the military coup of 12 March. Many revolutionary cadres and leaders of organisations were thus released. This situation led to the revival of revolutionary organisations.

 

As a result of the discussions and the conference-level meeting, a common programme and directive was reached on 8 April 1974. A common management was determined. Officially, the Ankara Democratic Association for Higher Education (ADYÖD), which had been founded by the youth of the Socialist Workers' Party of Turkey (TSİP) at the beginning of 1974, took as a basis to carry out the work.

 

Öcalan led these activities. Haki Karer also took part in the management of the association.

 

1 OCTOBER 1974

 

Revolutionaries taking part in ADYÖD activities distributed more than 10 thousand leaflets with the opening of universities in Ankara. Clashes broke out between revolutionary youths distributing leaflets and racist groups. While Öcalan "successfully" fulfilled his duty at the opening of the university, other association executives gave self-criticism.

 

4 DECEMBER 1974

 

With the decision of the government of the period, ADYÖD was raided by the police and the association was closed down. The 162 young people in the association were detained for 3 days, then arrested and put in Mamak Prison for a week. Öcalan and Ali Haydar Kaytan were among those arrested.

 

10 JANUARY 1975

 

Ankara Higher Education Association (AYÖD) was founded to replace the closed ADYÖD. Based on the majority of delegates, only the "Revolutionary Path Magazine" group took part in the AYÖD administration. Öcalan criticised this situation, did not participate in the activities of the association and carried out his own group activities within the youth of Ankara higher education throughout 1975.

 

After these activities, which were based on theoretical research, education, meetings and propaganda, a new group emerged. This group called itself "Kurdistan Revolutionaries". Other organisations, on the other hand, called this group "Apoists".

 

The group also constituted the first ideological group of the PKK.

 

6 MARCH 1975

 

Iran and Iraq, with the approval of the United States, reached an agreement in Algiers that ended the war between them. In return for the concessions made by the Iraqi government, the Iranian state cut its support to the KDP. The Mustafa Barzani administration then withdrew to Iran. Jalal Talabani and his friends founded the YNK. However, unable to stay in the Federated Kurdistan Region, the YNK tried to cross into Syria via the Botan region in 1976-77.

 

During this period, Öcalan's work to organise the group continued uninterruptedly. In response to the situation in the Federated Kurdistan Region, Öcalan held meetings with the leaderships of all organisations and groups in Kurdistan throughout 1975 and proposed to "organise and work on the basis of a common front". However, this proposal was rejected by all organisations and groups.

 

The "Apoist" group then developed the process of "return to the country" with the aim of "partyisation".

 

JANUARY 1976

 

Öcalan held an end-of-year work evaluation meeting at a house in Ankara Dikmen where Sêwereg (Siverek) students were staying. Around 20 people attended the meeting. At this meeting, it was evaluated that "the work in Ankara had yielded results" and it was decided to "carry the revolutionary accumulation to Kurdistan".

 

Haki Karer and Kamer Özkan were appointed as Öcalan's assistants. Thus, the "Apoist" group was to be coordinated by a unit of 3 people.

 

18 MAY 1976

 

Fevzi Aslansoy, a student at Hacettepe University and a sympathiser of the group, was killed when a fascist group attacked him near the university. Aslansoy's body was taken by Öcalan to his hometown of Pirsûs (Suruç) and a large funeral ceremony was held with the participation of 10 thousand people. For the first time, slogans such as "Down with colonialism" and "Long live independence" were chanted.

 

There were clashes between the participants and the soldiers. This funeral was the first mass action in Kurdistan by the group gathered around Öcalan. The demonstration had an intense propaganda effect in the neighbourhood. Forty people, including Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir and Mustafa Gezgör, were arrested and put in Diyarbakır Prison.

 

The arrested names turned the prison into a propaganda centre.

 

3 JULY 1976

 

Ali Doğan Yıldırım, who joined the group in Ankara's Tuzluçayır neighbourhood, died in an accident. His body was taken to Dêrsim. Yıldırım was recognised as the "first martyr" of the group.

 

31 DECEMBER 1976 - 1 JANUARY 1977

 

A "year-end activity evaluation meeting" was held at the house of "pilot" Necati Kaya in Ankara's Dikimevi neighbourhood. Öcalan personally chaired the meeting.

 

7 MARCH 1977

 

Aydın Gül, a secondary school student who had joined the "Apoist" group in Dêrsim, was killed when he was attacked by members of the "People's Liberation" group.

 

MARCH-MAY 1977

 

Öcalan started "cadre meetings" in many cities of Kurdistan, starting with the Ankara Union of Architects and Engineers on 12 March. Meetings were held in Elezîz (Elazığ), Dêrsim, Çewlîg (Bingöl), Amed, Riha, Dîlok (Antep) and many cities of the Serhat region. Between 50-80 people attended each meeting. Öcalan last held a large meeting in Dîlok in the first week of May and then returned to Ankara.

 

1 MAY 1977

 

In the attack against the celebrations organised by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) in Taksim, 34 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. Among those who organised this massacre was Alaattin Kapan, who later killed Haki Karer. 

 

18 MAY 1977

 

Karer, who was born in Ulubey district of Ordu and whom Öcalan said "He was like my secret soul", was killed in a planned attack by a group called "Stêrka Sor (Red Star)" in Dîlok. Mustafa Karasu's house in Tuzluçayır was raided by the police in early June. Kemal Pir was arrested with a gun in Ankara on 3 June.

 

Upon these developments, the "Apoist" group decided to carry out its activities on the basis of "self-defence". Öcalan was to evaluate the attack on Karar as "We felt as if boiling water had poured over our heads". Following the targeting of Karer, Öcalan initiated the process of partyisation. Between 1-11 September, Öcalan wrote the "Draft Programme" in the Hoşgör neighbourhood of Dîlok.

 

21-22 NOVEMBER 1977

 

A meeting was held in Amed where the "Draft Programme" and problems of organisation were discussed. Around 20 people attended the meeting. Öcalan stated that organisation work should be developed in the direction of "partyisation". Şahin Dönmez, on the other hand, defended the continuation of work at the level of youth organisation. Mazlum Doğan and some other names also supported Öcalan's view.

 

APRIL 1978

 

A similar meeting was held in Elezîz. At this meeting, "partyisation" activities came to the fore. An "Editorial Board" was appointed to illegally publish the magazine "Serxwebûn (Independence)" as the party's organ of publication. The first issue of Serxwebûn was published in early October. "Manifesto of the Path of Kurdistan Revolution" was published in the first issue.

 

15-22 MAY 1978

 

On the dates in question, a "Week of Action" was declared in memory of Karer. Öcalan wrote a brochure entitled "In Memory of Haki Karer", which was edited, expanded and distributed throughout the organisation. From the Serhat (East Turkey-Kurdistan Region) region to Istanbul, posters were hung, stamps were made and leaflets were distributed. Those who took part in the work were attacked by the police in some places and by racist groups in others.

 

19 MAY 1978

 

In Curnê Reş district, the group called "Suleimans" attacked the group who were making posters. Halil Çavgun, who was leading the youth work in Curnê Reş, was killed in the attack. In Curnê Reş, the "Apoist" group's protests against the MHP's aim to take over the city began, which continued for 6 months. The protests ended with the surrender of the "Suleimans" group on 27 November.

 

24 MAY 1978

 

Öcalan married Kesire Yıldırım in a civil marriage. Öcalan described the relationship as "emotional, as well as giving strength to a woman who was the first to join, North-South unity, the relationship between Alevi-Sunni communities". Kesire Yıldırım and her family were initially against the relationship, but later came out in favour of it.

 

JULY 1978

 

Öcalan wrote a manifesto titled "The Path of the Kurdistan Revolution" in a house in the Şehitlik neighbourhood of Amed. The manifesto emphasised "the struggle against the agents, structures, institutions and individuals on the basis of revolutionary violence".

 

11 AUGUST 1978

 

Kemal Pir was arrested in Narlı town of Bazarcix (Pazarcık) district of Mereş (Maraş).

 

26-27 NOVEMBER 1978

 

PKK's foundation congress was held in Fis rural neighbourhood of Licê district of Amed. The congress was attended by 22 of the 25 delegates invited. Hilvan delegation, headed by Mehmet Karasungur, did not attend the congress due to "work commitments". Two women delegates took part in the congress. The programme, statute and manifesto written by Öcalan were accepted at the congress. The process and the issues on the agenda were evaluated.

 

Öcalan was elected as Secretary General, Mehmet Karasungur and Şahin Dönmez as his deputies. The Central Executive Committee was also determined. Öcalan was given the authority and duty to elect 4 members of the 7-member Central Committee determined by the statute.

 

The names attending the congress were as follows: Abdullah Öcalan, Mazlum Doğan, Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, Sakine Cansız, Seyfettin Zoğurlu, Ali Haydar Kaytan, Cemil Bayık, Duran Kalkan, Abdullah Kumral, Kesire Yıldırım, Hüseyin Topgüder, Mehmet Cahit Şener, Baki Karer, Resul Altınok, Ali Çetiner, Ferzende Tağaç, Suphi Karakuş, Şahin Dönmez, Mehmet Turan, Ali Gündüz, Faruk Özdemir and Abbas Göktaş.

 

Tomorrow: From the PKK's first armed action to the conspiracy

 

MA / Azad Altay