Two of the triangulation points in the history of the Kurds that has never been forgotten is June 29, 1925 when Sheikh Said and 46 of his fellows were executed and June 29, 1999 when PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was given death penalty. There have been many rebellions against the destruction policies targeting Kurds after the declaration of Turkish Republic. One of these that is engraved in the history of the Kurds was the Sheikh Said rebellion that started on February 13, 1925. Despite being described as "reactionary uprising" in historical books Sheikh Said rebellions was recorded as "the national uprising of the Kurds" in official documents. Sheikh Said was executed at the age of 80.

 

Even though Kurdish issue was thought to be brought to an absolute end by these executions, the riots continued. The naissance of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which was formed in the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan was described as the "23rd rebellion". As a result of an international conspiracy Öcalan was handed over to Turkey on February 15, 1999 and he was sentenced to death on the 74th anniversary of Sheikh Said's execution. 

 

Stating that Öcalan has been kept under heavy isolation, where his means to meet with his lawyers and his family are extremely limited, one of Öcalan's lawyers Mahmut Şakar said, "Öcalan has been the subject of such a trial process that he was threatened by death sentence. There is also the reality of the conspiracy. The sovereign powers of the world threw the demand of freedom and the desire for better life of the Kurdish people into the fire. What mattered for Öcalan was to liberate himself from this infernal conditions together with his people."

 

Emphasizing also that giving Abdullah Öcalan death penalty on June 29, the day Sheikh Said was executed, was a "message" to the Kurds Şakar continued, "Whenever it comes to Kurdish people, one should say that the mind of the Turkish state works very historically and its memory is very strong. Of course the coincidence of the two days is not just an arbitrary coincidence. It was a message of the state mind to the Kurds. They wanted to give the message that 'What has happened to your previous rebellious leader will Öcalan will also happen to Öcalan'. They wanted to say, 'No matter how much you rise up, the result will be the same and you will encounter the same tragic result each and every time'. However, I can say that Öcalan never took this matter personally, but rather politically and historically and he formed his strategy accordingly."

 

Şakar concluded his evaluations finally mentioning the current state opression, "Today we face with such an oppressive and destructive state violence that even our dead take their share from that. The regime has put all its capital on the table in order to carry out the Kurdish genocide except that we are neither in 1925 nor in 1999. We should see that the potentials of resistance as well as achievement have never been as favourable as today. There is a road map, a paradigm that has proven its worth. There are millions, who have not lost faith despite all the pressure and continue the fight in all areas of life. We were pushed out of the 20th century, we are an influential actor of the 21st century. We are like Phoenix in a sense. The opponent, on the other hand, is far from being legitimate and holds a naked and brutal device of violence. Speaking as someone, who has breathed the heavy and the gloomy air of the conspiracy that did not allow any kind of hope, I believe that we have entered such a period that the 'Freedom shall win' sentence of Öcalan that he said a response to the death sentence will arouse again." 

 

MA / Ferhat Çelik