My health is closely linked to our social reality. Look at the state the Turkish society is in now! The situation of the University youth, the way they have been depoliticised can be seen. The left is in shatters and can't come together. They used MHP to finish off the left. As for CHP nothing shall become of them. They still can not even understand Mustafa Kemal. In Turkey the only oppositional dynamic left is the Kurds but they can not sufficiently and as required do what is needed and hence are not influential. This is really what puts my health in difficulty. For the past 12 years I have made such analyses, I make proposals for a solution but we are unable to make a real headway. Of course I also have physical problems, especially in relation to my breathing. It never seems to end. I am in some way able to handle it. But the real issue that puts me in difficulty is the fact that societal problems are not resolved and that the societal reality is not understood.

I am trying to follow up the Hizbullah issue. How can this happen, how can they do this to Diyarbakır! How could the ones from Diyarbakır permit this to happen? They set these killers, murderers, those who monstrously murder free – they dug up people's bodies and some were found in bags – and there are celebrations held to that end! All this is taking place in Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır saw thousands of its children fall. They savagely butchered many of our youth there. I fail to understand, how this can at all happen in Diyarbakır. You have 80% of the votes in Diyarbakır then how can this happen? The people of Diyarbakır are patriotic and aware but it must be that they are not getting organized, then there is a problem in leading them!

It is not a coincidence that they were set free in such a manner, they may be preparing for something. They are not ordinary criminals. They can not let these murderers go as if they are ordinary criminals. If there are such people amongst our people who have committed savage acts they should  not set them free either. The incident of Konca Kuriş are still fresh in our memories, everyone knows how they killed the woman. I think she had some feminist thoughts as well. In fact they meant to kill all the women in the personage of savagely killed Konca Kuriş.

I wrote often about the woman's issue, everyone is aware of how I approach the issue. I left a significant weight to this issue in my defences as well. The woman's issue is the source of all issues. The resolution of woman's freedom in general would mean that a solution has been found for the general society's freedom struggle. When I talk about woman I do not say this in a sexist way. I read the book of an American author, a female author, I agree with all the points she makes. She is quite objective. She makes a distinction between biologic feminism and cultural feminism. And of course there is also the political dimension. It is really important that woman takes her place in political struggle. This is where woman's struggle gains a lot more importance. A liberated woman, but not alone, should also involve man and fight against the male dominated mentality and power together. There is a need to end this rape culture which has continued for thousands of years. One should overcome the rape culture in order to be able to create the liberated woman. I don't want to be misunderstood, I am not against marriage but uneven marriages as well as those that are done under male dominated conditions only lead to the consumption of one another. Indeed the femininity and masculinity of today is a given understanding. Woman is being exploited for thousands of years in accordance with this created identity. She is unable to get a retribution for her labour.  For example this Hizbullah and similar religious understandings are shutting off the woman and isolating them from the society. Leave the turban aside for a while, they are shutting her off in a burka. They are covered form head to toe, one can not even see their faces. This can not be an understanding of freedom? Can putting the woman into such a form be passed off as liberation? There is no such thing in real Islam, their mentality has nothing to do with Islam either.

The other day an interesting news took my attention. I think this happens in a village of Mardin. In a Mardin village men are flying in women from Morocco to be their brides and as a second wife. Some of these women apparently know a few languages, there are those who are teachers. They come to become a second wife to men who already have a few wifes and eleven or twelve children. An interesting situation, they were talking about around seventy to eighty marriages as such. Morocco is under the influence of the Arabs but there is also a Jewish domination there. And all this maybe according to a plan. They may be using women in this way. In this manner Zionism is trying something out in Mardin. Previously also in Urfa, if I am not wrong the former mayor of Harran remarried although he had four other wives and his fifth was a woman from Ankara. Later this woman became an MP from the AKP list. This is another example of how woman is used. It is also said that Israelis have thousands of hectares of land in Urfa. If one remembers they had given Israeli firms the job to clean mined fields. They settled in Palestine in a similar manner and then established their own state. The Arabic states kept silent. I would like to especially underline something so that I am not misunderstood I am not anti-Semitic. The Jewish people, just as all the other peoples, have the right to live in peace in the Middle East. Of course they can come and buy land in the region as well but they should do this openly. They should not have ill intentions and a secret agenda.  Similarly we have no problems with the Arabic people; we have many Arab friends. I don't want to be understood wrong, I lived in Damascus for years but Arabic states for example the Saudi capital supports Israel and hence they keep quiet.

I think the things I said in relation to self-defence has been understood wrongly. I can not understand our politicians either. They also do not understand me. They can not do what  is necessary at the right time and place. They do not know how to do politics. Because they can not do politics as required of them I am in difficulty here. They are not good at politics. Look at how they released these killers, savages. One can not predict what they shall be up to. On the other hand they are establishing a 50 thousand manned private army. Who and for what are they doing this. They say they do it because of “Terror”, for military operations and that they will get money for each military operation they participate in. Who will they do the military operations against? What they call “terror” is simply the Kurds, the Kurdish people. They shall fight with the Kurdish people. They shall apparently will be all sent to the region! Why would they establish such an army? On the one hand they say that they would like to resolve the issue through dialogue but on the other hand they are making such preparations. Those from Hizbullah are released. I do not understand can't our politicians see all this, why don't they ask, when and with whom this army shall fight with? They shall war with our people. In the case that such a thing happens then the Kurdish people shall take up self-defence and shall have the right to legitimate defence. And then when I talk about self-defence it is understood wrong. It is enshrined in international law and in the constitution. The right to legitimate defence is a constitutional right. Why do I insist on the establishment of City Councils. Legitimate defence is the ability to understand the dangers and to protect ones self in accordance. The Congress and the Amed Council should gather and discuss legitimate defence. The members of Hizbullah are released, a private army is being established, there are massacres committed since the beginning of the republic, the cultural genocide continues and on top of it all religious organizations are rapidly spreading in the region. They are talking about around ten thousand imams to be send to the region and to top it all there are religious communities. One should think about all this in its entirety. The Congress and Amed city council should gather and discuss all this. This is what I mean by legitimate defence. One should gather together and discuss the issues and be aware of the dangers. When required our people are demonstrating but why are they so silent when these murderers are released. Why aren't they organizing meetings and demonstrations? Everything should not be expected of me, do I have to remind you of everything. They should think of it themselves. On the one hand the state and on the other the organization expects everything of me. And me in turn find it difficult to breath here. This is what puts my health in danger. I had said it before, all section of Diyarbakir can come and take their place within the City Council and discuss everything freely. One can talk to these members of Hizbullah get in touch with them; if they have given a self-criticism and they shall not continue with their old ways, if they have learn their lesson from their mistakes and if they shall express themselves legally then they could also be called upon and they can then represent themselves both in the Council and in the Congress. But if they shall continue in their former manners then self-defence shall come into play and they shall not have room in Diyarbakir for themselves. Similarly the industry chambers and other circles should take their place within the Congress and Council. They should participate in the discussions and taking of decisions. They can not just bid for contracts from the state and take money.

I would like to say a few things in relation to democratic autonomy, since it is also not understood well. Although I insist that our solution model is not a statist solution model . We are not aiming a state. Either some columnists do not understand me or they distort it intentionally. I have a different perspective. I view the history of society and state separately. The system that we proclaim is a model of democratic society it is not a state model and it rests upon the society being organized. Ever since there is hierarchy and state emerging within the society there has also been the existence of the civil society organizations in parallel and against it. Both, that is state-power and civil society have been in conflict to date. I at times call those against state-power the political and moral society or at times democratic society. I sometimes call the system we propose as Democratic autonomy and at times Democratic Confederalism. Contrary to what some think it does not aim for a federative structure. We are concerned with the society's democratic organization and democratic administration. I have talked about these in detail in my defences. In the 20th and 21st centuries the power and state structures have been realized in the form of nation-states. It has passed through various phases until it has reached the form nation-state. But all the phases are linked to one another. If you scratch the surface of nation-state structures you shall find the theocratic state of the Middle Ages beneath it. In a similar manner beneath that, one shall find the slave-owning state of the antiquity. Fundamentally there is really not much of a difference between the nation-state system of today and that of the past state structures. As always the case, there is a dominant class, power and state and on the other hand there are the masses of people exploited. The slave of the past is now the paid slave. Today many people work like a wage earning slaves, indeed some are even worse off as they can not find employment at all. Unemployment is the worst situation of all. Therefore our proposal for a solution can not be centred around the state or power. Because these do not solve but generate problems. Hence in our system the dynamic and resisting structures since the beginning of time are fundamental. Our aim is to strengthen the democratic society.

If my defences are read it is more detailed there. Because our approach is totally different they can not understand it. Because they do not think outside the boundaries of classical approaches they can not envisage that there can be a different model. They are far behind, they do not read our paradigm nor they do not study it. For years now we say that our paradigm has changed and that a new nation-state can not be the solution to the problem.

The left in Turkey was crushed and marginalized by using the nationalism of the MHP. This is why it is in the state that it is in. At present they are attempting the same thing with the Kurdish movement using political Islam against it. One should determine this and act in accordance. This is quite clear. The fact that the Hizbullah members were released, the imam cadres that number in their thousands, the religious communities in the region, the establishment of private armies are all intentional policies to finish off the Kurdish movement by using political Islam against it and are all interrelated. One should ask where the money that backs Hizbullah comes from?

The former classical colonial methods are no longer used, global finance is now ruling the whole world and re-designing it. I believe it was an English saying, of post I. World War; “There is no longer a need to occupy a country using military might and other classical methods. There is now a need find other ways to do that”. This is what global finance is doing today. Turkey in this context is a country that is exploited the most in the world. Is the international capital investing in Turkey in vain? They say that production has increased in Turkey, this is not realistic.  The main components of those things produced comes from outside Turkey and then it is only assembled in Turkey and then sent abroad again. Indeed the real profit is made by the international capital. The workers in Turkey are working for survival and there are millions who can not even find work. Similarly there is the HES which are built in the region and which are supported by the international capital. They both seize the land of the citizens in return for modest prices and then make them economically dependent. As a result they gain enormous economic profits. Fertile land is left under dams and can no longer be used. This also allows agriculture to disappear and result in unemployment in return. The damns that are built with such a huge expenditure are then left in an unusable state in about fifteen to twenty years because they are filled with soil. The real damage is due to environmental massacre that is done. There is the Illisu dam as well as the dams that are tired to be built in Dersim and the other regions. The nature and history are being destroyed, the valleys are being destroyed. Our region Halfeti and similar fertile land were all left under water. The beautiful Black Sea shores and its nature is also being destroyed and left under water.  The Mediterranean shores are also being left at the disposal of certain holders of capital in the name of tourism. There are no longer many beaches left. For example Antalya. Those well off people from around the world go there to entertain themselves. But the natives of that region work like slaves and only for their own survival. The people who live in Turkey are not able to benefit from these blessings. For example the situation of Sarıkeçililer is quite clear; they can no longer find any meadows and winter quarters to live in nor can they find fields to feed their animals. They call all these things done in Antalya investment in the name of tourism. But tourism can not be considered a tool of investment and development. All these can be given as examples to the damages of capitalist modernity. Capitalist modernity tries to disguise all these with four methods; nationalism, sexism, religionism and scienticism and hence enslave peoples. Nationalism is a method used by global finance and we shall not fall into this trap. This is why we are against nationalism and have no place for nationalism in our paradigm. In the same manner the other method used is sexism. For many thousands of years the woman is being imprisoned at home and exploited. We reject this as well. Similarly religionism is another method being used, it is used against us in the region. AKP is using it very well.  As I have said they have nothing to do with real Islam, these are policies implemented in accordance with the interests of global capital. Scienticism on the other hand is used to disguise them all. Their secularism is only in words. Have a look at how religious affairs is clinging tightly to state in Turkey. The state is using religion through religious affairs according to its political interests.

I shall make one more important evaluation. This is a historical as well as a self-critical analyses. To date it was claimed that gladios JITEM like structures within the state was being eliminated with the Ergenekon trials. I also thought along similar lines. But this is not entirely true. I continuously think on this topic. I discussed it with our friends in here as well the other day. Why is it that we have not noticed it until  now? This is the reason why I say self-criticism. I think it maybe mentioned in Hanefi Avcı's book. He was also apparently supportive of me being talked to in order to find a solution and he was proposing this and now he is imprisoned and is being tried for Ergenekon. Similarly in the past there are those who met with me with the intention to solve the issue are also being tried for being a member of Ergenekon. Indeed there are some who are being tried for being a member Ergenekon are supportive of finding a solution. But the real sections of Gladio who does not want a solution is left out and they are still free and AKP has cooperated with them. They are eliminating those people who wanted a solution by relating them with exposed people like Veli Küçük  who are obscure, murderers and are pro military coups. In the past there were similar events for example Cem Ersever -he was himself the founder of JITEM, he lead the way for thousands of extraordinary killings- but later when they said that the issue can not be resolved through these means they were eliminated. At times people may learn from the mistakes that they make.  Under today's conditions AKP is the one that is against a solution and has co-operated with the Gladio and Ergenekon members who are still free. But is eliminating those who are pro-solution by relating them with Ergenekon. The efforts of AKP to establish a private army and to release Hizbullah members can not be thought independently.

Legitimate defence is a natural, legal and constitutional right. It is even enshrined in the present constitution. One should gather in the Congress and Council and discuss the issue in great detail and then declare the desire to make benefit of their constitutional right. In addition the separation of individual and collective rights is not the right thing to do. Should the Kurds not defend themselves in the face of attacks against themselves? Can anyone think in such a way? Of course they shall defend themselves, this is the most natural and legal thing to do.

There are letters from prisons. I send my greetings to all our friends in prisons.

I extend my greetings to our people in Çınar and Urfa. The work done in Urfa should be sped up. They should establish the City Councils and neighbourhood assemblies. They should not be late in establishing them, they should work seriously.

A child from Yüksekova with the name of Beritan Baban has sent a new year card written in Kurdish. I thank her. In the personage of Beritan I send my special greetings and affection to all the children in Yüksekova and Hakkari and I wish them a happy new year.

07 January 2011

Abdullah Ocalan