Prisoners in Turkey issued a written statement on the anniversary of the 9 October Conspiracy, which was orchestrated by international powers against Abdullah Öcalan.

Deniz Kaya, on behalf of the freedom prisoners, emphasized that 9 October 1998 marked the beginning of an intervention targeting not only Abdullah Öcalan but also the future of the Kurdish people and the peoples of the Middle East. He noted that this process has since led to significant social and political developments across both Turkey and the Middle East.

The statement said: “Twenty-seven years have passed since the international conspiracy launched on 9 October 1998 against Öcalan by the forces of the status quo and their local collaborators. As we enter the 28th year of the conspiracy, we commemorate with respect and gratitude all our revolutionary martyrs, especially our comrades Halit Oral and Aynur Artan, who led and inspired the ‘You cannot darken our sun’ protests that formed a blazing circle of protection around Öcalan. At the same time, we condemn with deep hatred all forces involved in this conspiracy.

The international conspiracy also marks the beginning of a major intervention against the future of the peoples of the Middle East, first and foremost the Kurdish people, through the person of Öcalan. The dominant powers that drew the borders of the Middle East a century ago launched a new wave of attacks a hundred years later, targeting all structures and ideologies that could offer hope to the peoples of the region. Mr. Öcalan’s insistence on socialism, his idea of a ‘Democratic Middle East Union,’ and his vision based on the common struggle of peoples became the primary targets of these attacks."

The statement added: "The 9 October Conspiracy was a blow against Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas that could inspire the freedom struggles of the peoples of the Middle East. The process that began with his forced departure from Syria has, in its impact and consequences, led to significant social and political developments across both Turkey and the Middle East.

All the global and regional powers involved in removing Abdullah Öcalan from Syria are today present in Syria itself. The perpetrators of this international conspiracy are also responsible for the inferno of war that continues to engulf the Middle East.

Although the 9 October Conspiracy was carried out in 1998, its background lies in the century-long unresolved Kurdish question and in a regional and international consensus that has deprived the Kurds, as a people, of their fundamental rights."

A civil war was targeted through the conspiracy

The statement continued: "The powers that drew the borders of the Middle East a century ago launched a new intervention a hundred years later against Abdullah Öcalan, the architect of an ideology that offered hope to the peoples of the region. Öcalan’s paradigm, which is based on the common struggle and liberation of peoples within a democratic Middle East, became a decisive factor in both regional and international interventions.

Through this conspiracy, the common future of the country was targeted; the Kurdish and Turkish peoples were set against one another in an attempt to ignite a civil war. Abdullah Öcalan, however, foiled this dark and dangerous plan with the stance he took and the democratic solution paradigm he developed in Imrali Prison, showing that the peoples of Turkey could escape this trap and vortex of uncertainty through peace, democracy, and dialogue.

The process that began on 9 October 1998 and continued with Mr. Öcalan’s imprisonment in Imrali on 15 February 1999 (the day in which Abdullah Öcalan was abducted in Kenya) could have enabled social peace in Turkey and a democratic solution to the Kurdish question over the past twenty-seven years. Yet this opportunity was repeatedly sacrificed to narrow political interests."

The statement underlined that "Öcalan’s democratic and peaceful calls were met with stalling tactics, liquidation and collapse plans, and aggravated isolation. It was not only Öcalan who was imprisoned in Imrali; in his person, Turkey’s social peace and the peoples’ possibility of a free and common life were also taken captive.

Breaking the aggravated isolation and blockade imposed today on Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali, where both domestic and international law are being violated, will also break the chains of fascism that bind the peoples of Turkey.

It is a fact that the international conspiracy was also a trap set for the peoples of Turkey. Through this conspiracy, the Kurdish and Turkish peoples were pitted against each other, aiming to ignite a civil war and to turn Turkey into another Iraq or Syria."

The AKP government fails to grasp reality

The statement said that "Abdullah Öcalan’s stance in Imrali thwarted the dirty and dangerous objective behind the international conspiracy; he made clear that the deadly trap left by imperialist powers for the peoples of Turkey can only be escaped through a Democratic Republic. Unfortunately, because the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) still fails to grasp this reality, it has not abandoned plans, particularly in Rojava, to leave all Kurds without status.

From every angle, it appears certain that the twenty-eighth year will be one in which the denialist and assimilationist regime is toppled and all international conspiratorial forces are defeated. But the power that has kept the conspiracy alive is the United States; we know this very well and we are never mistaken about it.

Therefore, while dismantling the fascism of the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), we must not allow a new guard to arise to carry out the conspiracy; we must succeed in overthrowing fascism and the conspiracy together."

The most rightful and just struggle in history

The prisoners said: "Under the leadership of Öcalan, the Kurdish people have resisted the international conspiracy for twenty-eight years with the slogan “You cannot darken our sun,” continuing their struggle for freedom without interruption.

This struggle, which aims for the liberation of Kurdistan, also seeks the democratization of Turkey and the Middle East and the salvation of humanity. It stands as the most rightful, meaningful, just, and at the same time the most challenging struggle in history.

Once again, we salute this twenty-eight-year struggle for freedom and humanity carried out in the spirit of self-sacrifice, and we commemorate our heroic martyrs with respect. We also wish great success to all our comrades in prisons and to our people who continue to resist in this twenty-eighth year of struggle."