He was referring to the
meetings between Apo and his lawyers:
Lawyers: In Kurdistan, an Islamic, pro-Kurdish, pro-American faction is developing.
Ocalan: “True. I call this the collaboration of the beneficiary, pro-Tarikat, and the primitive nationalists. This is a very grave danger. They may say that Apo became a Kemalist. But, Mustafa Kemal was a revolutionary. He rested upon 19th century’s science/knowledge. I, on the other hand, am relying upon 21st century’s science. While I chiefly developed the Kurdish movement, Mustafa Kemal built upon Turkish nationalism [1] . Mustafa Kemal collaborated with the Kurds, I am collaborating with the democratic wing of the Turks. What I am saying is that democracy is the up-to-date form of Kemalism. Republicanism is not contrary to democracy.
Note
1. It is interesting that in the Turkish original Ocalan does not use the common word for nationalism (“milliyetcilik”) but instead uses a word that is much more benign and does not have negative connotations (“ulusalcilik”). When referring to Kurdish nationalism, however, Ocalan consistently refers to it as “milliyetcilik” and does it greater disservice by referring to it as “primitive”.
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:13 am