Press Release
February 6 devastating earthquake with epicentre in Pazarcık is a great disaster. It has caused great damage and our people have suffered many victims.
Tens of thousands of people from the Kurdish, Turkish and Arab populations have lost their lives and tens of thousands are still waiting to be rescued from the rubble. We deeply share the pain of our peoples. We wish peace for the dead and extend our condolences to their families and loved ones. To the injured, we wish a speedy recovery.
It is a great humanitarian, conscientious and moral duty to relieve the suffering of our peoples and heal their wounds. It will be the right approach to alleviate and overcome the difficulties of these days by clamping together and developing solidarity. We also want to support this. All our self-defense forces and patriotic institutions must offer support and mobilize aid to the people. It is a necessity to urgently assist rural areas and villages that are still neglected and where no one has yet entered. This is the most important humanitarian and patriotic duty in this period. On this basis, we agree with the call made by Comrade Cemil Bayık on behalf of the KCK Executive Council Co-presidency and state that its requirements will be fulfilled in practice.
In this context, our call to all our guerrilla, combatant and self-defense units is as follows: Within the framework of the call made by our Co-presidency, all operational plans and practices in metropolises and cities should be stopped; Unless there is an attack by the Turkish state forces against our forces, which are also positioned in the countryside, no operational activity should be developed. This instruction is valid until further notice, and it is an essential duty for all legitimate defense forces to meticulously comply with it.
It is known that within the framework of the genocidal policy in Kurdistan for years, the AKP-MHP regime has channeled all of Turkey's own resources into the war and spent great expenses on attack plans against our freedom forces and all institutions of our people. All the peoples and our people living in Turkey suffer greatly because this government, which enriches its supporters in various ways, does not spend any money on the life and safety of the people and does not develop infrastructure organizations. The loss is great. For this, a great social solidarity and assistance is needed. In this context, we respectfully declare that we will fulfill our responsibility by complying with the decision and perspective of the political will of our people and our revolution.
February 11, 2023
THE CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE PEOPLE'S DEFENCE FORCES