Page 146 - America's Failure to Perceive the PKK

3. Concepts of democracy and the institution of
the state under the mask of imperialism

th
Following attacks on Eruh and Şemdinli on August 15 , 1984, the
PKK, whose declared aim was the establishment of an "Independent
United Socialist Kurdistan", officially announced its intention to remove
the Turkish Army from the whole of the Southeastern Turkey. It main-
tained that aim until the early 1990s, and Öcalan announced that they
would have an army numbering 50,000. 58

One of the principle aims in the PKK's founding manifesto is the
creation of a classless society, and it contains a call to arms to build
a communist Kurdistan. As stated previously, the section
of the PKK program titled "The Duties of the Kurdistan
Revolution", contains an article verbalizing the rejection
of all proposals for a solution (such as regional

autonomy) that might be suggested by the
Republic of Turkey, described as a
colonialist state. The aim behind

Öcalan's fundamental
objective is to
establish a 50,000-
member army and
seize the Southeast of
Turkey through a
Maoist guerrilla war.
The imperialist mask
is a deception. There
is in fact no change in
that objective.

144 America's Failure to Perceive the PKK