An inflexible will confronting imperialism and its collaborators: Yusuf Araci
Our comrade Yusuf Araci pursued his resistance to hunger and tyranny for 330 days. He was part of the 8th Death Fast Team of volunteers. On May 1, 2002, he put on the red headband, the symbol of resistance.
Yusuf was born on October 16, 1971 at Iskenderun (Alexandretta, in southern Turkey). He ended 32 years of existence in the course of a war of wills in which he overcame his enemies. He came from an Arab and Alevi family (Nussayris).
He took the revolutionary road towards independence, democracy and socialism in 1995, when he was a student in the science faculty of Dicle (Tigris) University. At first he was involved in the youth organisation. He shared a flat with Refik Horoz, who was one of the four TÖDEF (Federation of Student Associations of Turkey) students murdered by the death squads on January 12, 1995. After this massacre, the revolutionary struggle became clearer in his mind.
He was first arrested in 1996, a little before the Death Fast in the same year. He took part in several actions to protest the repression in the prisons. In subsequent years he experienced torture.
The massacres and torture he witnessed in Diyarbakir reinforced his convictions and his involvement. In 1997, he became an organised militant. In 1998, he went underground. He took on numerous missions. Finally he was commander of one of our armed propaganda units in the Mediterranean Region. In August 2000, he was captured and imprisoned in Ceyhan.
In August 2000, the F-Type prison project was a major topic of discussion.
On December 19, he organised resistance alongside his comrades.
After the massacre, he was transferred to Sincan F-Type Prison. Then he resisted in his cell, showing conviction, willpower and patience.
Nothing diverted him from his resistance.
We are waving the flag of independence, democracy and socialism with Yusuf and those like him!
Our comrade Yusuf Araci told us what the revolutionary movement meant for him in these terms:
«Just as it makes a correct diagnosis, it puts into practice the correct therapy. Its policy is realistic and takes life into account… Today, we are more ready for revolution. For me, our movement is the expression of liberation, a force that puts back on the track those who are derailed by the system, a guide and a mind which will lead us to the final objective…. If we have a common aim like revolution, we must fight in order to reach it…. »
We are resisting and we are fighting.
We set out in the most unadorned manner the reality of dependence, fascism and imperialism and we propose as a solution independence, democracy and socialism.
Our comrade Yusuf Araci has shown the entire world and our people that:
We defend the interests of the people and we are resisting America.
Their mission is to murder. Ours is to create a country where there would be neither torture nor massacres.
Their mission is to collaborate. Ours is to defend independence.
Their mission is to pillage, steal, exploit and share their booty with their masters. Our mission is to ensure that the entire world is able to eat its fill.
Our comrade Yusuf Araci is the affirmation of resistance and of faith in victory.
We will win. Those who resist will win. In history it has always been like that.
We exist everywhere in the world. There are six billion of us. You can murder us. You can bombard us, burn us, tear us apart and dismember us, or put us in your isolation cells. That will not prevent us from winning. It will not change the result.
