Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" continues to resonate in wide circles. Along with the call, Abdullah Öcalan's proposals on social, political, national, ecological and women's issues have been opened to discussion in academic circles. 

 

The world-renowned sociologist Michael Löwy said that Abdullah Öcalan offers an important perspective to the solution of the national question with the idea of democratic confederalism. Answering the questions of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) in Amed (Diyarbakır), where he came as part of the "The past is the future" project, Michael Löwy stated that Abdullah Öcalan should be free immediately. 

 

How do you evaluate the solution process in Turkey, which came to the agenda again after 1 October? Do you think Turkey can produce a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question? 

 

There is a great hope now that this peace process started thanks to Öcalan's initiative, may lead to a peaceful solution. This is a hope. The only way out for both the Turkish and the Kurdish people, is freedom and democracy. So this is why Öcalan's proposal is so important. And my hope is that this will very soon lead to the liberation of all political prisoners, starting with Öcalan, of course, but also Selahattin Demirtaş etc. So it is really very important that all these Kurdish and other political prisoners get their freedom. So I hope the peace process will lead to this very soon. 

 

How would a Turkey that has solved the Kurdish problem affect its relations with the EU?

I think if this democratic process leads to a solution which in Turkey, which guarantees the democratic rights of the Kurdish people, this would be a very important step towards the future integration of Turkey into Europe. There would be no reason for Europe not accepting the integration. So I think this will be a very, very important step in this direction. But of course, the European Union is not an ideal structure. It has many shortcomings. As an European, I hope also that we will be able to change the European Union into a more democratic and more social and more ecological structure. 

 

As you have mentioned, Europe has recently started to focus on "security" orientated policies. Especially at the Munich Security Conference, it was emphasised that Europe should turn towards a political stance based on "security" instead of "values". What risks does this security-centred shift pose for oppressed peoples and freedom movements?

 

I think this new European turn towards rearmament, security, prepare for war, invest millions and billions on building war machines is very negative, is very negative. I think this will have as a consequences that democratic rights, ecology, social service, health, education, everything will be marginalized, and the whole resources and economic power of Europe will be channeled towards armament and preparing for war. I think this is a very negative development. I hope that the people in Europe will start resisting against this war hysteria and these war preparations and these huge investments in armament. We don't need this. We need more ecological transition. We need more social rights. We need more democracy, and this should be the aim of the change in the European policy. 

 

Although he has been in prison for 26 years, Abdullah Öcalan has produced a serious theoretical production from criticism of the nation-state to democratic confederalism, from gynecology to ecological society. How do you think Öcalan's intellectual production contributes to socialist thought and struggle?

I think that Öcalan's writings are very, very important contribution for the socialist and revolution movements all around the world to rethink how to deal with the National question. To take ecology as a very serious issue and not something marginal, and to see women's liberation and leading role of women in our liberation process, these are very, very important contributions. I think any socialist or revolutionary people in Europe or elsewhere in Latin America or elsewhere should can learn a lot by reading Öcalan's writing, and I think It's really time now for Öcalan to be free, absolutely urgent. 

 

In the context of the crisis of the nation-state form and the Kurdish issue, how do you think democratic confederalism offers an alternative to today's political crises?

 

I think the proposal of Democratic Confederalism by Öcalan is a very interesting and new way of dealing with the National questions. Of course, it was inspired by writings of people like Murray Bookchin and others, but it's a new proposal. It's an original proposal which tries to avoid the dangers of the authoritarian, centralized nation state, which we had so many experiences in the 20th century with negative consequences. So I think this idea of a democratic Confederation is a new proposal. It still has to be practiced in concrete historical conditions to see how it works. But I think it's very important perspective to go beyond the long history of wars and conflicts around the issue of nation state. 

 

 

In the light of the popular movements in the Middle East (Arab Spring, Rojava, women's resistance in Iran, etc.), what historical link do you see between the liberation struggles of oppressed peoples and socialist struggles? Where does the Kurdish movement stand in this context?

One of the most striking aspects of these new movements for freedom and democracy in the Middle East is that the leading role of women in them. This is obvious both in Iran with the whole movement women freedom and peace. And of course, Rojava is also a striking example of a democratic, decentralized political organization where women have a very, very central role, where women are achieved in equal status with men, and this is a unique experience. I don't think there is any other equivalent, perhaps the Batista chapel's movement in Mexico. but this experience of Rojava is really in the vanguard of showing how women deserve to be the leaders of the movement for freedom and how they should have the same rights as men. So I think these are very, very important experiences, and I hope there will be more like those. But the Kurdish movement, both in Syria, Turkey and everywhere, has been perhaps the most democratic, the most liberal and the most radical of the national liberation movements in the Middle East.

 

 It also occupies an important place in the ecological destruction of nature today. In this context, Abdullah Öcalan's ecological society paradigm is also on the agenda... How do you think the Kurdish movement's relationship with nature and its vision of an "ecological society" can inspire the world left? How should the Rojava example be evaluated in this respect?

 

The Rojava experience was influenced, among others, by Murray Bookchin, who was a social ecologist, a very radical ecologist. I think ecology has been since the beginning, at the heart of the Rojava project. Of course, they have very difficult conditions and they are not able to implement a full ecological program, but there have been attempts to develop an ecological transition in Rojava. I think it is central in their view of what should be the future of Rojava, the ecological transition. So I think this is very positive, and I think other nations should take this as an example, as a positive example. 

 

Finally, the campaign "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and democratic solution to the Kurdish question" continues. What kind of struggle should be taken as a basis for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan?

 

As I said, there is much hope for this peace process. But of course, the Kurdish people have to be strong and well organized to be able to win the peace process. We cannot just wait for it to happen. So it's very important that the Kurdish people continue to be active, organized and fighting for the rights. So I hope this can lead to peace, which is an absolute necessity for both peoples, the Turkish people and the Kurdish people.

 

MA / Müjdat Can – Hîvda Çelebi