Ivan Marquez: We support Kurdish people and PKK guerrillas

BOGATA, Colombia, — Ivan Marquez one of FARC’s most influential leaders and member of guerrilla group secretariat, has in a written message expressed his backing for the Kurdish people while demanding freedom of Ocalan and recognition of the rights of the Kurds.

FARC’s campaigners, said Ivan Marquez, will embrace the resilient Kurdish people with all their revolutionary passions.

The message opens with the greeting salutation for the Kurdish guerrillas of PKK. “Salute to Kurdish nation and the comrades of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party),” the beginning paragraph of the message remarks and continues as follows:

From the mountains of Colombia we send our salutations to the Kurdish people who fight for freedom and their values and we embrace them with revolutionary greetings. We also as the campaigners of the people’s army are struggling to achieve justice in another part of the world.

We seek freedom of our people along with establishment of socialist regime with mass participation of peoples. Hence establishment of a direct link with the people who fight in Mesopotamia for their freedom is our honour. With all our might we support the Kurdish people and the PKK which is the most dynamic and revolutionary organisation in the Middle East.

Our backing is for the legitimate representatives of the Kurdish people who over the mountains of Kurdistan are struggling to establish a democratic self-rule and to achieve this they have employed democratic and diplomatic endeavours.

We are of opinion that the recognition of the rights of Kurds and their status would bring democracy and security to the region and solution to this issue would also empower the regional diplomatic relations.

The current pressures on the Kurds should come to an end immediately. We demands freedom of Abdullah Ocalan and we are aware that his is incarcerated in Imrali prison. We are of opinion that freedom of Ocalan would bring about peace and democracy to Kurdistan and Turkey.