BRATÜRK

     In 1999, as a result of international initiatives by the Turkish State, Öcalan set out for the Republic of South Africa but was caught in Kenya by the Turkish State's intelligence service and brought to Turkey. Öcalan, who defined himself as the leader of the Kurdish movement and the mastermind who initiated its armed struggle, said his first words on the plane upon being brought to the Turkish State: "I am ready to work for the Turkish State." Although most Kurds viewed this statement as a tactic to avoid being sentenced to death, today we clearly see that with those words, he truly and literally intended to serve the Turkish State.

    Although Öcalan stated that he established the PKK as an effort for Kurdish independence, a struggle to expel occupying states from Kurdistan, and a deterrent force against the subjection of Kurds to genocide, these were all things planned, thought out, and attempted while he was free. The moment he fell into the status of a prisoner, he had not internalized his struggle enough to position himself in opposition to these [new] discourses.

    Through ideological writings and books allegedly written by him during years of captivity on Imrali Island—but which carry the quality of translations of existing books regarding foundations and many ideas—he was adopted as the "Leadership" by the Kurdish people and its constituents. Until a few years ago, he was always seen as the one who knew everything best; however, as I said, this situation remained valid until a few years ago, and now this perspective and acceptance are slowly and deeply changing.

    Today, Öcalan has entered into a "law of brotherhood" with political parties and ideologies that have sworn to destroy the Kurds since their existence. While a more honorable stance was expected given his advanced age and situation, he has adopted a stance that hands the Kurds over to the Turkish state on a silver platter and tries to make the Kurds dependent on their colonizers and occupiers through the leadership cult he created. He exchanged the Bloody-Handed Turkish State and its dirty mentality of Kurdish Genocide for the Kurds' desire for independence, replacing his original purpose—the idea of Kurdistan—with the nonsense that the Kurds are a "Civil Society." Just imagine, he stooped so low as to gift a Kilim (rug) to the MHP leader, who massacred Kurdish intellectuals, people, children, and women without distinction. To fall from the leadership of an armed struggle to the position of a prisoner who gifts a Kilim to his murderer is a position a person with a thought of an honorable life would never want to fall into. Whereas guerrilla morality has always adopted the need not to abandon one's ideology and to keep a bullet in one's pocket to end one's life before falling captive, so as not to fall into the hands of the murderer and become helpless.

    Nelson Mandela, the leader of the Republic of South Africa where Öcalan aimed to go before being caught, never bowed to the Apartheid regime under any circumstances. While he was held captive on an island and isolated in cells, his people showed strong resistance against the regime they opposed and toppled it. Subsequently, Mandela took his place beside his people as a leader and completed his life as an Honorable Liberation Leader.

    So, in this case, when Öcalan completes his life, will he be a Leader, or will he be remembered as BRATÜRK—Atatürk's brother who handed the Kurds over to the Turks after Mustafa Kemal?

Ünal Zeray