IMRALI PRISON, Turkey, — Kurdish national leader Abdullah Ocalan says his “Democratic Self-rule” proposal is a demand for a status for the Kurdish people, report said today.
Mr. Ocalan also underlined the fact that Kurds have no intention to form a separate state from the Turkish Republic.
Speaking at his weekly meeting with lawyers in Imrali Island, Ocalan criticized the presentation of Democratic Self-rule Project in a conference in Diyarbakir. He said Democratic Society Congress should have presented the project in a way that underlines the project’s main unifying points than showing it as a separatist manifestation.
Mr. Ocalan warned that this politics could lead to a nervous response from the Turkish nationalists and cause violent conflicts between Turkish and Kurdish sides. “I am trying to prevent this” he said.
Mr. Ocalan added that Kurdish people have nothing to do with a separate flag but the Kurds and Turks need a unifying democracy.
On Turkish National Security Council’s harsh statement on Democratic Self-rule Ocalan said that the Turkish government is probably showing reaction to his remarks at the defence text which he presented to ECHR on 22 December.
He said the new defence text is titled “Kurdish Question and Democratic Nation Solution” and contents proposals for Kurdish Question.
From his solitary confinement in Imrali Prison, Mr. Ocalan warned as the peace process progresses there might be provocations to prevent the solution. He said he is expecting the negotiations will go on and some progress will be made.
He repeated that he will evaluate the fate of the 6 month old unilateral ceasefire declared by the PKK, on March.
Kurdish national leader told his lawyers that his possible death in Imrali will be a casus belli and that it will start an eternal war. “Even if an earthquake occurs tomorrow and I die as a result of it, this will be cause of war. Even if I die of an illness here, my death will be seen as a part of a conspiracy. The PKK will think this way. But I say this, there is no death on Imrali; there is only murder here. No matter how I die here, it will be seen as a murder.”
“Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. It is possible that all will turn against the prime minister. I say this from personal experience. Ozal was killed in a similar historic time. Tomorrow Erdogan may be assassinated resulting in coup in the country,” said Abdullah Ocalan.