ISTANBUL - Sending a message to the Musa Anter and Free Press Martyrs Journalism Award Ceremony, Abdullah Öcalan said: "It is a historical responsibility for valuable press workers to play their role with responsibility and contribution in this matter." 

 

Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan sent a letter to the 32nd Musa Anter and Free Press Martyrs Journalism Awards ceremony. Abdullah Öcalan, in his letter in which he also included his meeting with the Kurdish sage Musa Anter, stated that Musa Anter created the characteristic of being a pioneer. 

 

Letter of Abdullah Öcalan reads: 

 

"The atmosphere of the 1970s must be well understood in terms of the Kurds. Denial was at an advanced level. Escape was at an advanced level. People even avoided calling themselves by the name Kurd, the environment was woven with denial. Even saying the name meant losing everything. As I entered the 1970s, I wanted to make a historical transformation. I made my first move by going to associations in Istanbul. I said, ‘Let me use the concept of Kurd,’ and I did. That was also where I first saw Musa Anter (Apê Musa). That was the first and last time I saw him.

 

'HE ACTED LIKE A PARTY ALL BY HIMSELF'

 

Apê Musa is very precious, very valuable. He was among the first to raise his voice after the 1940s. Perhaps he was the only serious patriot after the Second World War. He acted like a party all by himself. For half a century, he behaved as if he were a one-man party. He did not establish a party, but he tried to say something for the Kurds through literature. What Yaşar Kemal was in literature in Turkish, Apê Musa was in literature in Kurdish. This was very valuable. In this sense, he had a primordial quality. It was precisely for this reason that he was assassinated by counter-forces.

 

In our meeting in Istanbul, brief as it was, we had the chance to walk together. He gave us advice. He said, ‘Protect yourselves.’ We tried to do that, and we are still trying. That is how we arrived at today.

 

At present, we are carrying out a process aimed at building Peace and a Democratic Society. Its success will require a genuine and valuable effort. My belief and hope in its success are strong.

 

WHEN WORDS MEET TRUTH...

 

It should not be forgotten that when words meet truth, they are very powerful; they are creative and guiding. With this truth, it is a historical responsibility for valuable press workers to play their role with responsibility and contribution in this matter.

 

In closing, I respectfully commemorate our free press martyrs, and I wish success to the press workers who strive to realize Musa Anter’s ideals by following in his footsteps."