Press Release
Our liberation struggle has risen on the shoulders of our devoted fighters who have unhesitatingly embraced martyrdom for the honorable and free future of our people.
The Apoist Liberation Movement, under the leadership of Leader Apo, throughout its 52 years of struggle in every year, every month, and every day of the month, has created an immortal and invincible army of martyrs and the most sacred values for the Kurdish people by sacrificing martyrs.
The day our great international revolutionary leader, comrade Haki Karer, whom Leader Apo called “like my secret soul,” reached martyrdom on May 18, 1977, has been designated as “Martyrs’ Day,” and the month of May as the “Month of Martyrs.” On the basis of honoring the memory of the martyrs correctly, the Apoist Liberation Movement emerged on the stage of history and has fought relentlessly on this basis. Our martyrs—pioneers of our glorious half-century history, devoted followers of the invincible Apoist ideology, sources of inspiration and moral strength—have earned an indelible place in the hearts of our people through the values they created.
Our martyrs showed the Kurdish people the path to struggle for their most fundamental values, taught them to face every difficulty for this cause, and, by leading the way with thousands of heroic acts of resistance, they created the Kurdish people’s spirit of heroism. Our martyrs are the fundamental source of strength that keeps us alive and the truth that gives us the power to pursue our goals without any obstacle. The Kurdish people, deeply internalizing and understanding this truth, have always honored their martyrs with great pride and respect, held them in the highest regard, and, when necessary, have sacrificed their lives to honor and defend the memory of their martyrs.
Many great martyrdom events that have written history with epic resistance took place in the month of May: On May 1, in Lebanon, Abdulkadir Çubukçu; Garzan’s provincial commander Ramazan Kaplan (Celal Hoca) and his comrades; and Cûdî’s valued commander Hamza and his comrades; On May 2, our first commander Mehmet Karasungur and comrades İbrahim Bilgin; and our Central Field Commanders Azad Sîser and Çekdar Amed; On May 4, the massacre of tens of thousands of Dersim people began with the Dersim Rebellion in 1937; On May 6, Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan; On May 9, valuable PJAK militants Ferzad Kemanger, Şirin Elemhulî, Elî Heyderiyan, Ferhad Vekîlî, and HBDH’s pioneering commander Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu; On May 11, Gurbet Aydın (Mizgîn); On May 12, Leyla Qasim and four comrades; On May 16, dozens of comrades including Hêlîn, Salih, and Ozan, who were murdered by the KDP in Hewlêr; On May 18, the Dörtler (Ferhat Kurtay, Eşref Anyık, Mahmut Zengin, Necmi Öner) and revolutionary leader İbrahim Kaypakkaya; On May 19, Halil Çavgun and Müslüm Baran; On May 22, 16 comrades who were martyred by chemical weapons used by the Turkish army in Yedisu, Çewlîk in 2001; On May 25, comrade Ahmet Kesip (Cemşîd) and our Immortals Battalion’s leading martyrs Andok and Êrîş; On May 27, comrade İsmail Nazlıkul (Kasım Engin); On May 31, pioneers of the Turkish revolution Sinan Cemgil and comrades were martyred in Nurhak.
The historic 12th PKK Congress held on May 5–7, 2025, announced the martyrdom of comrades Fuat – Ali Haydar Kaytan and Rıza Altun. Our great leader Fuat, the first companion of Leader Apo and the wise elder filled with leadership love and spirituality, left an indelible mark on our struggle as an unyielding fighter of the Apoist line. Every moment of the liberation struggle and truth war was filled with meaning and emotion, serving as a guide for us comrades. Comrade Rıza was a great symbol of courage, who devoted himself and his entire family to the freedom struggle without hesitation, fought recklessly, and became well-known worldwide as an expert marksman, a veteran of our self-defense line, a prisoner resistance fighter, and a master diplomat of democratic politics.
While welcoming the martyrdoms of our great founding leaders, comrades Fuat and Rıza, in the Month of Martyrs May, who are the comrades most devoted to the martyrs, we commemorate them with respect, love, gratitude, and deepest longing.
The fact that thousands of heroes reached martyrdom by resisting epically has turned May into the month of martyrs and given it great meaning. On the 48th anniversary of the martyrdom of our great pioneer Haki Karer, we respectfully and gratefully commemorate the Month of May and all revolutionary martyrs, promising to honor the memories of our martyrs by crowning our struggle with victory.
As the Kurdistan Freedom Guerrillas, who struggle with the Apoist fedayi spirit on the line of the martyrs, we declare our determination to be relentless followers of the martyrs’ line. On this basis, once again, we respectfully and gratefully commemorate our martyrs and reaffirm our promise to live worthy of their memory by never compromising in defending a socialist life.
Martyrs are immortal!
May 17, 2025
HPG Press Center