Responding to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said that the Kurdish guerrillas should go back to Kandil just like they came to Turkey from there, Karayilan said that “We didn’t come from somewhere else, we were already here since the very beginning. Eighty percent of our units got organized and joined the guerrilla from the places where they were born and grew up ,and they have never been to Media Defense Areas so far. It is true that some comrades from other parts of Kurdistan, those from the executive command, did go to the Kurdish region in Turkey and some others from Turkey went to Media Defense Areas for training, but they are in the minority. This is why it would not be right to say that they should go back in the same way they came”.
The KCK Executive Council president remarked that the withdrawal is continuing and noted that the first groups will have reached Media Defense Areas in a few days.
Karayilan evaluated the accelerated construction of military posts and dams in the Kurdish region since the truce KCK called on 23 March as opportunism, adding, “Çukurca (Hakkari’s district) has a population of nine thousand but 18 thousand military forces are currently based in and around the district which is being used as a military base. When this is the case, it puts a question mark in the minds why more and more military posts are being built in this area now. They couldn’t build those posts and dams in the region before the ceasefire because of the fact that guerrillas would prevent these constructions.
Karayilan pointed out that guerrillas were Kurdish people’s defense power responsible for defending their basic right to exist. “It would be a distortion to point them as a threat in consideration of the situation in the Middle East where all peoples are bearing arms today in an effort to defend themselves. We are not a threat but a defense against the powers threatening us. This is why the guerrilla movement exists”, he underlined and remarked that the disarmament of guerrillas could only be achieved after finalizing all phases of the resolution project and process with success”, he underlined and remarked that it would be a wrong attitude to expect thousands of guerrillas to leave arms in an instant.
Karayilan said they aimed to finalize the withdrawal as soon as possible, however warning that the activity of reconnaissance airplanes would prevent the progress of the withdrawal because of the fact that guerrillas would not make a move under the supervision of reconnaissance airplanes. (ANF, 11 May 2013)
