The leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) armed wing Murat Karayilan said “the security of [jailed PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan is the security of all political leaders in Turkey”.

Speaking in the PKK’s headquarters in the Qandil mountain range, Karayilan told fighters commemorating the launch of the guerrilla war against Turkey on 15 August 1984, that “if [Turkish president] Erdogan is alive today, it is thanks to the efforts of the Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Ocalan.”

“Today there is a war in the Middle East. Everyone knows that after this war some will try to redesign our region. The Kurds and their struggle for freedom has caught everyone’s eye. It is for this reason that all of Kurdistan’s enemies are very angry. Erdogan must know that he will gain nothing by isolating our leader Ocalan and by being hostile to the Kurdish people,” Karayilan highlighted.

Karayilan finished his talk by congratulating the listening fighters and warning Turkish leaders once again: “We have said this before and we will say it again, our leader Ocalan’s security is the security of all the leaders in Turkey. Everyone must be aware of this fact.”