Our Call To Form A Revolutionary Front!
We, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and the DHKP (Revolutionary People’sLiberation Party), would like to make the following statement public:
As the result of the discussions and talks which we have been holding for some time now, once again our parties are forming a united front, which will be active on all levels in the interest of the liberation of our peoples.
The preparation of such a revolutionary front is a fundamentally significant expression of the process we are currently engaged in, namely the cooperation and alliance of our parties.The democratic and revolutionary struggle of our peoples and the creation ofa revolutionary front are important tasks. We are well aware of how significant this task is, and that simply stating “we have formed a front”is by no means enough.The DHKP and the PKK will undertake, within their organizations, to foster unity among cadre and supporters at all levels, and we call on all progressive and democratic forces to join us in this task. The first step towards this is this protocol, which we are now publishing.
The enemy’s strength lies in the disorganization and disunity of the people’s forces. With each passing day, our responsibility to unify our peoples and organize the popular forces becomes greater, and each day we are called upon to take bigger steps.
The enemy is able to continue its war against the people and the revolutionary and patriotic forces, even at a time when the system is on edge and its dirty business has been exposed, and despite all of ist internal struggles, the system is able to sustain itself on the basis of ist own interests. So shouldn’t we – revolutionary, patriotic, and democratic organizations and institutions – unify ourselves as well?
There is no reason whatsoever not to.One of the most important factors in this seems to be the negative tradition of unity here. But our duty for our peoples and our striving towards revolution and the seizure of power demands that we overcome this negative tradition.
While the discontent and anger among the people is growing everywhere -except among a handful of collaborators, who are enemies of the people, and the members of the bourgeoisie – as a result of the cover which was given to the murderous, fascistic, and destructive face of the regime, it is important for the people’s forces to become united, to organize their solidarity, and to develop a common struggle. But this has not yet become reality. That is the main reason why, despite the perfect conditions, amassive popular movement has not yet arisen.Our call is directed at all popular forces: those who demand democracy and independence, those who demand freedom and justice, those who demand freedom of worship and freedom of the press, those who demand the right of self-determination for all peoples, those who demand a end to the unjust war, all those who wish to live in a land where there is no torture, no executions, no disappearances, no murders by unknown assailants, a country where villages are not burned, a country where there are no persons forced into exile, where there is no prostitution, drugs, or mafia gangs. Our call goes out to all those who don’t want our country to be a satellite of imperialism and to all those who are struggling against the exploitative and repressive regime. All of these demands can only be realized if all those who are making the demands are organized into one unit. It is our duty and our responsibility to our peoples to struggle against this regime which is waging a war on our peoples. Our struggle must be on all levels, legal and illegal, peaceful and armed, military, political,cultural, economic, and democratic. We must develop all forms of solidarity and a common struggle and take steps forward in each of these areas.
Our parties, who recognize the importance of this, are making this call asallies, and we call on everyone to develop a revolutionary front and unity between our peoples.
The face of our country is a bloody picture of brutality. This picture is ripe with the necessary conditions for revolution: The regime is at its end.
It is trying to extend its existence by oppressing the people and by increasing poverty and degeneration. This has deepened the contradictions within the regime. Without hesitation, we can say that the preconditions for revolution in ourcountry have been fulfilled. The problem is to organize and unite the revolutionaries, the peoples, and the progressive forces.
We must be united in our opposition to fascism, which is responsible for the brutality, for depriving the people of their rights and freedom, and for terrorizing those who stand up and demand rights and freedoms. This unity is necessary at all levels. Only in this way can the nations, peoples, and organizations fighting for the liberation of the peoples achieve victory.
All oppressed people, all nations and minorities, all workers, and even individual persons, patriots, democrats, and progressives – whom the regime seeks to oppress and destroy – all those who are against this regime and who are against imperialism, yet who cannot freely express their opinions, must become united. These alliances must seek to serve all of these people. Exclusionary tactics only broaden the front of the enemy.
The freedom of our peoples will be gained by overthrowing the system. But this system can only be destroyed if the people struggle together. It is always the same ruling class which exploits and blackmails both the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. Both peoples have the same enemy. This enemy is the central ruling authorities in Turkey and Kurdistan.Although the Turkish and Kurdish ruling classes have propagated numerous campaigns of chauvinistic and nationalistic hatred, they have never been able to turn the two peoples against one another. They have sought to suppress the strengthening national liberation struggle of the Kurdish people by means of terror. When terror alone was not enough, they turned to chauvinistic and nationalistic policies and attempts to turn the Turkish andKurdish peoples against one another and thereby prevent the independence and freedom of the two peoples. But despite all their attempts, they could not make enemies out of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. The future and destiny of both the Kurdish and the Turkish people are mutually dependent upon one another.All forces which believe in revolution and socialism must accept this fact. Now more than ever it is clear that no strategy or tactic which ignores this fundamental truth has a chance of reaching its goal.
Because of this fact and necessity, the PKK and the DHKP see the formationof a revolutionary front as a precursor to achieving and building a freefuture for our peoples. We are proud and happy to have taken this step of building an alliance.
The task of building a revolutionary unity between our peoples and their revolutionary, democratic, progressive, and fighting forces can not be put off any longer.The unity of our peoples is a necessity. Without taking up this great and historic responsibility, which necessity has forced upon us, no unity can beachieved.
We realize that an organization without answers to the goals, hopes, and aspirations of the people has no chance of survival. Recognizing that, an organization which does not address the demands for organizing resulting from burning necessity will be confronted with its own demise.
Every step, every resulting organization must have answers to the needs of the nation and the society. That is their very reason for existence. Our peoples have sensed the desire for joint organizing and common methods of struggle which have arisen from national and social needs. Our people need a very broad front of organization. Since even the smallest of demands have been crushed with violence, the thoughts and languages of peoples banned outright, people wallowing in torture, disappearing, being executed,villages burned to the ground and forcibly evacuated, since murders by unknown assailants are now part of daily life, the fight against our common enemy must be carried out on the basis of unity, solidarity, and a joint struggle. No one can flee from this urgent and historic task or fail toaddress it.

As the PKK and the DHKP, we declare:Our Goal Is A United Front Between Our Peoples!

The main goal of this unity is to join together our peoples in one front and to link up and develop the struggles of our peoples on all levels. This alliance, along with the necessary courage and commitment from us, will allow us to create a revolutionary front between our peoples and all legal and illegal groups, parties, and institutions who are suffering under this system and who are struggling or who wish to struggle against this system.We seeks to unite all of these people under one roof.

Our Goal Is Common Resistance And A Joint Popular Power

Every where we live, we are mercilessly attacked by the enemy. The central authorities are seeking to eliminate our struggle. The division of our peoples is a serious setback to our struggle. For independence, democracy,and the right of self-determination for all peoples, our peoples must fight the enemy together and overthrow it. Only an independent, democratic popular power can secure the rights for all nations, national minorities, and classes of people.

Our Goal Is To Guarantee The Free Exercise Off All Rights For The KurdishPeople, Including The Right To Form An Independent State

A joint struggle for the shared liberation of our peoples is a means of increasing the brotherhood and unity of our peoples. We accept, without preconditions, the right to self-determination for the Kurdish people, including the right to form an independent state.

One Of The Foundations Of Our Unity Is To Oppose Imperialism And To DefendOur Independence

Today, the imperialists are directly or indirectly responsible for all theattacks being carried out against our peoples. The continuing unjust war of the ruling classes in Turkey against our peoples is being kept in motion with the support of imperialism. Imperialism is primarily responsible for the picture which exists in our country today. It is the enemy of independence, democracy, and the peoples’ right to self-determination. It isclear that we cannot achieve these goals without struggling against imperialism. We state that we are against imperialism and for the independence of our lands and for the defense of our peoples, that we wish to drive out and remove all military installations in our country which belong to the imperialist states, and that we will not grant the imperialist powers the right or privilege to establish military bases on our territory,and that all of the united patriotic forces are prepared to enforce this.Our alliance views our peoples as the true owners of all our natural resources and all the fruits of our land, and our peoples and we see that an end to exploitation and plunder is a precondition of independence.

Our Goal Is To Unite All Popular Forces

Countless contradictions exist between the various classes of peoples andthe regime. We accept that one of the fundamentals, from the perspective of power as our goal, is to broaden the revolutionary front and to make more narrow the front nationalities, all religions and faiths, and alloccupations and classes of people. We view our alliance as a democratic undertaking and we aim to create the conditions in which all national minorities and religious groups and freely express and develop their cultures and faiths.

The Demand For Democracy And Independence Is The Actual And ConcreteFoundation Of The Unity Of The Popular Forces

Bearing that in mind, we seek to undo all anti-democratic practices and aswell as the fascist Constitution of the September 12th putsch, which ignores the will of the people, bans forms of organizing, and robs the people of their right to free speech and decision making. A new draft Constitution will be prepared by the broadest of popular forces, with the goal being democracy and independence. All anti-fascist and anti-imperialist groups and all those organizations, parties, and persons on the side of freedom and justice will be involved in this process.

Our Goal Is To Practice Unity In All Areas

In light of the concrete tasks which lie ahead, we have established the following goals, namely to organize the democratic opposition of ourpeoples, to develop a Parliament which represents all of the popular forces, to give our people the right to speak and make decisions by means of thisParliament, and to create the possibility of establishing popular assemblies from every tiny settlement to the largest of the metropoles so that people can put their destiny into their own hands.Our alliance, which seeks to establish and extend a common front between ourpeoples, requires both parties – in all legal institutions, such as laborunions and various associations, in which our parties are organized, in alldemocratic fields of struggle among workers and bureaucrats, in thevillages, in the press, on the cultural front, among the students and youth, in the prisons, in the factories and neighborhoods, and in countries abroad- to wage a joint struggle against our common enemy, to increase sharedorganizing efforts, and to give each other assistance and develop mutualsolidarity. All of this is necessary to build up the revolutionary front, at the base,among the masses, step by step in the struggle. This is how the revolutionary front of our peoples will come about. Our alliance has decided to create unity in the democratic struggle in all areas of life, and to takesteps to build up the democratic front. Now is the time to unite all forces on the basis of this unity into the revolutionary front.
We, the PKK and the DHKP, see this first step as a way to begin bringing all revolutionary, democratic, and progressive organizations and institutions together, on all levels and in every form, without excluding any form of struggle or organization, and we call on all peoples, organizations, and institutions to join us in this and thereby make it stronger.
DHKP (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party)
PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party)
December 22, 1996