After centuries of a period of unwritten history in Kurdistan, the colonial policy based on partition and denial-annihilation that was developed over the last century led to a process that suppressed, distorted and destroyed all the social characteristics and qualities of the Kurdish people, both culturally and sociologically. The Kurdish people, one of the oldest peoples of Mesopotamia, are a community that took shape and developed its culture in a geography that was the cradle of the Neolithic Revolution. For this reason, the policies of denial and genocide imposed on Kurdish society, with its profound social richness, and all colonial attacks seeking to achieve their aims through physical and white genocide have failed to reach their intended result, colliding with the rich traditions and cultural wall of the Kurdish people rooted deep in history. Of course, the multifaceted and deepened assimilation developed on this basis achieved certain results and caused enormous social destruction, but it failed to annihilate the people completely.

With the spread and acceptance, particularly among the youth of Kurdistan, of the ideological and political line created and developed by Leader Apo, who emerged on the stage of history in the last quarter of the twentieth century, and with the process of party-building, mass mobilisation and resistance that developed on this basis, all the characteristics, abilities and qualities that had been suppressed for centuries and remained hidden within Kurdish society were brought to light through this developing resistance process. On this basis, as Kurdish society was revitalised, many of its social and cultural characteristics erupted almost like a volcano during the Revolution of Resurrection, revitalising society; and the social reality that had stood on the edge of an abyss, on this basis, almost grew wings, experiencing a rebirth and reconnecting with the traditional characteristics rooted in the richness of history, while developing the process of nationalisation on this basis.

The heroes of Maraş against colonialism

One of the areas where this Apoist emergence first found a response and created an echo was Maraş, a city on the Anatolian border of Kurdistan. Pazarcık was one of the first places where our movement found a mass base as it was being brought into Kurdistan. Pazarcık, Elbistan and Maraş as a whole, as well as Malatya, Adıyaman, Dêrsim and all the areas along the border region, were among those most exposed to colonialist, genocidal and assimilationist attacks. Our movement initially focused heavily on these areas, and the necessary social response was soon given along this line as well. On this basis, the people of the region embraced and joined the Apoist thought as a stance against assimilation and dissolution. This was, in fact, a stance of existence and resistance against annihilation. The revolutionary movement that developed on this basis reached a significant base in the area, particularly in Pazarcık, and experienced its first mass mobilisation there.

The Maraş Massacre taking place at a time when revolutionary activity was on the rise to such an extent that even villages were being given names such as Vietnam was certainly no coincidence; it was an organised and planned colonial policy. The fascist coup of 12 September that followed immediately afterwards is clear evidence of this. All of this was developed as a major wave of attacks aimed at preventing the developing revolutionary struggle and suppressing the patriotic revolutionary movement that was rapidly growing in the region. From then on, repression and attacks intensified, the policy of forced displacement was deepened, and an attempt was made, so to speak, to cleanse the region of Kurds. Yet the people of the region did not give up. Wherever they went, they supported and took the lead in revolutionary and patriotic activities.

We know very well that these areas also provided the ground for the initial process of cadre formation and militantisation of our movement, through the efforts of the great internationalist revolutionaries, comrades Haki Karer and Kemal Pir. This was a period in which pioneering and courageous cadres such as Erdal (Mustafa Yöndem), Besê Anuş, Cin Ali (Ali Erek), Sarı Ömer (Mustafa Ömürcan), Sabri (Şıho Dirlik), Kasım Engin (İsmail Nazlıkul), Erdal (Engin Sincer), Nucan (Cennet Dirlik), Atakan Mahir (İbrahim Çoban), Savaş Maraş (Mehmet Soysüren) and Berfin Nurhak …