I will never lose my revolutionary life, which I built with love!

We hereby publish a slightly shortened version of the defense speech of the communist Süleyman Göksel Yerdut, who was charged with 70 other prisoners for participating in the self-government resistance in Nusaybin. He has been sentenced to 25 1/2 years in prison and aggravated life imprisonment.

Before I begin my defense, I want to commemorate on behalf of our party's Rojava representative, Bayram Namaz, who has become a martyr this year, all of our martyrs from Rojava and the soldiers of our party's combat force in Dersim, comrades Taylan Kutlar, Hıdır Çallı, Hüseyin Akçiçek, Berfu Dilan Canbay, Ümit Yetik, Veli Görgün, Irfan Gerçek and comrades Fırat Şeran and Ozan Sökmen, who were recently murdered by the fascist state forces. In this room I would like to announce again that we will lead their ideals to victory. They are our source of strength, we will never fade their memories, we will make their dreams come true.
On the other hand, I would also like to salute once again the recently held successful 6th party congress of our party, the MLKP.
Our party, which started the Revolution Marathon on September 10, 1994, has passed its 25th year of struggle. Our party, which has a militant and self-sacrificing history of resistance with the legacy of dozens of fallen fighters, has always took its place in the center or within all moments of social struggle and resistance, from the barricades against NATO to May Day, from the Gazi Uprising to the Gezi Uprising and from the Kobanê Serhildan to the self-governing barricades.
From the beginning until today, it has become the socialist vanguard force of the Rojava revolution, as Comrade Bayam said, "the socialist conscience of the Rojava revolution".
At the same time, November is the month of the fallen of our party and in these November days I would like to commemorate the fallen of the revolution and socialism of Turkey, Kurdistan and the world with respect and gratitude, starting with the martyrs of our party. We have a promise of revolution to them ...
We will of course defend the truth here. This is exactly the historical mission of the communists, we stand on the side of the truth. The reality of the world today is that a happy minority lives in pomp while billions of people live in hunger, poverty and misery. Moreover, this splendor and misery, which accumulate on two opposing poles, cause each other. That is the biggest truth. That is why I speak today in the name of the workers, whose sweat flows between the gears of the machines; on behalf of the youth whose future was stolen; in the name of the hungry children of the world who don't even have a piece of bread; on behalf of the denied national and religious communities and on behalf of the men who have declared war on patriarchy.
The struggle of the oppressed peoples makes history
Our goal is not to prevent the severe punishments that are imposed on us, but to explain the historical and social reality. We have long known that the essence of history is class struggle, the struggles between oppressors and oppressed. Neither the heroes nor the "incidents" make history. It is the struggles of the oppressed classes and peoples that produce both history and these heroes as well as these "incidents". In short, history is class-related and history moves with the class war of the oppressed against the oppressors. Do we not see this forward movement more clearly today than usual?
Imperialist capitalism is fluctuating in an existential crisis today. The rise of fascism and racism, the global economic-financial crisis, the worsening regional-local wars of the political design offensives of imperialism, growing unemployment, poverty, hunger etc. are all manifestations of this existential crisis. On the other side are the peoples who rise from Latin America to Europe, from the Middle East to the Far East with economic and political demands. The world bourgeoisie can no longer rule as before, it is a natural consequence that the bourgeoisie turns to fascism and acts against the popular uprisings.
Our country has become a base of imperialism
The situation is no different in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan. Those who spread the slogans "local" and "national" have reached the point that every square meter of our country has been opened for exploitation, looting and occupation policies. Our country is not under the occupation of the armed forces of the imperialists today, but has been handed over to them voluntarily. Every corner of our country is an imperialist base, there is no place that is not exploited, looted and occupated.
The most recent example is Mount Isa, which has been donated to international monopolies of Canada. Tens of thousands of trees have been felled so that these monopolies can fill their coffers. Is this your "local" and "national"? The capitalists and imperialists, as well as their regional collaborators, love the profit, earnings, exploitation, looting and occupation. They are the enemies of nature. They will never refrain from destroying both the balance of nature and the health of peoples for profit. A huge country is being squandered from mining companies, gold companies and energy companies. From Ida Mountain to Hasankeyf, from Salda Lake to Fatsa, from Gerze to Munzur, from Eskişehir to Sinop and to the Aegean, the ecological destruction continues.
As a result, arable land can no longer be used, animals can no longer be kept on the meadows, the valleys, mountains and forests are squandered for international diplomatic relations and dirty business. The HES (hydropower plants), which are built as part of the energy policy, and the dams destroy our nature, the coasts and bays are released for development and thus become victims of the construction industry. That was not enough, our beaches, the popular beaches, are plundered and sold for open / covert orders. While not a single piece of land remains unsold, those hiding under the mask of patriotism condemn others, as traitors to their countries, who tell the truth and defend the poor oppressed working people. Those who try to hide their dirty politics through nationalism should know that nationalism will be the last hideout for the oppressors and "real traitors". At this point I would like to commemorate the revered Nazım Hikmet. He said: "If the valuables in your safes and your bank accounts is patriotism, if patriotism is dying from hunger by the side of the road, if patriotism is trembling in the cold like a cur and shivering from malaria in the summer,
if sucking our scarlet blood in your factories is patriotism, if patriotism is the claws of your village lords, if patriotism is the catechism, if patriotism is the police club, if your allocations and your salaries are patriotism, if patriotism is American bases, American bombs, and American missiles, if patriotism is not escaping from our stinking black-minded ignorance, then I am a traitor."
We also say that if the fatherland is the shoeboxes filled with American dollars, if fatherland means that the poor cannot bring bread home, but all "paradise fruits" are delivered to the palace when the workers at the third Istanbul airport are exposed to bed bugs, then you are lovers of the fatherland, but we are traitors to the fatherland. It is impossible to watch this in silence.
International relations and agreements accelerate the wheel of exploitation, looting and occupation. The measures taken, taxes, price increases and the high costs of living directly affect the poor people and bring them to the brink of misery. As a result of external dependency, standstill of industrial production, in addition to luxury spending, the S-400 and similar warfare means are being bought from outside, while basic human needs cannot be met. While the material, moral values of the oppressed, working and poor sections of society are ruthlessly destroyed, it is impossible to overlook and remain silent about all of this. The fascist colonial regime tries to maintain its political power by destroying historical, social and religious values that are thousands of years old. It tries to incite and hostile the peoples who live together on an equal and fraternal base. Methods of assimilation, genocide, etc. are practiced against the Kurds, Armenians, Cherkessians, Greek and all other peoples who have lived together fraternally with the Turkish people, common areas of life were thereby dissolved. This monistic, racist, nationalist, denominational and sexist policy is supported and carried out by the state, our peoples persistently fight against all these anti-democratic approaches to ensure their own existence on the basis of equal, fraternal and free life.
Chaos in the order of slavery is the beginning of freedom
Without a doubt, victory in the struggle against capitalism, imperialism and its collaborators is only possible with a revolution. This requires an armed struggle. Resistance to repression, oppression, exploitation and injustice is a social yardstick of truth. Just as resistance is legitimate, so are fixing d Use of the means of resistance is highly legitimate and justified.
That is why our armed resistance and struggle against the fascist colonial dictatorship is highly justified and legitimate. A wise man said, if order means slavery and oppression, then disorder is the beginning of justice and freedom. This is a simple explanation of how legitimate it is to destroy the order of the rulers. It is the condition of existence and the reason for existence of the revolutionary vanguard to defend the demands of the oppressed and to raise their anger. It is inevitably the primary fundamental task of revolutionaries to build a socialist society in which our peoples have democratic rights and freedoms; in which different religious, identity and cultural groups can live in equal and free relationships; in which a social collective economic policy is implemented, the legal basis of which is formed and which abolishes degrading, painful economic policies such as unemployment; in which a social policy is institutionalized which, as the basic cell of society, particularly grants full equality to women, LGBTI and children; in which harassment, rape, murders will end; in which the understanding of justice is strengthened and an equal; in which free environment is created and an ecological understanding of industry is established that increases awareness of the environment and nature; in which a revolution in the way of thinking is realized with the base and superstructure. And the revolution is a necessity for that.
The struggle for revolution and socialism liberated
The struggle for revolution and socialism liberates. It releases from the dirt and rust of capitalism. The struggle for revolution and socialism creates the new human, versus a human who has been degenerated, decayed and made selfish by capitalism. The new world will undoubtedly be the work of the new human. In the 16th century, Thomas Hobbes said "Homo homini lupus", meaning "man is a wolf to man". Yes, capitalism is the same. Because capitalism releases human from humanity. But we have known since Marx that a human is the product of social relations and the surrounding material conditions. In order for humans to attain their true social identity and to find their way back to humanity, capitalism must be banished and destroyed; the victory of socialism is again an inevitable phenomenon, a necessity. The revolutionary leader Rosa Luxemburg, who said "socialism or barbarism", was one of the best to understand that socialism was not a choice but a necessity. Today the communists who understand this need are the harbingers of liberated humanity. The destruction by capitalism is not limited to the destruction of human values. In the order of wage slavery, people are driven into hopelessness and destruction.
It is our duty to destroy the order of oppression
It is no coincidence that the suicide rate has increased recently. Capitalism has become an order of suicide. The solution is not suicide, but struggle. Not those who see themselves under pressure deserve death, but capitalism itself, which exerts this pressure.
The existential crisis in which imperialist capitalism finds itself is structural and it is different from the previous crises, because it corresponds to a time when the share of labor in the total income is getting smaller, in which the abyss between poor and rich is getting bigger, flexible production is spreading more and more. The rescue of companies and holdings by the state, which acts in the interests of the capitalist class, shows that the burden of the crisis is being placed on the oppressed working poor sections of the population. Strikes were banned, rights abolished, labor murders increased, mass arrests etc. are an expression of the ruthless support of the rules of exploitation, above all due to the state of emergency, which has become normality.
After the failure of the attempted coup on July 15, which Erdogan and the AKP declared a blessing, a hunt for all the revolutionary values and democratic rights of the oppressed working poor sections of the population began, and thousands were arrested.
We defend the right of peoples to self-determination
All expenditures made by palace, by all state structures are an expression of greed, waste and theft. That is why we are the political children of the street from the outskirts of the oppressed poor working people and not the fools of the palace. We are not the slaves of the imperialist capitalism, but the freedom fighters of socialism. As revolutionary fighters, our main task is to defend the truth by using human values and achievements as a basis. In this context, we see the right of peoples to self-determination as a universal human right. This rapprochement is characterized and denied in our country as an existential question. That is also part of the current crisis. As if it is not enough for the fascist colonial regime to keep North Kurdistan under colonial yoke for a century, it is trying to establish the same colonialism in Rojava and Basur-Kurdistan today. Today a part of Rojava and Basur is under the occupation of the fascist colonial state.
The Rojava Revolution, which is now in its 8th year, had appeared on the stage as the "third way" of the peoples against imperialism and the regional reaction. The fascist state tried to stifle the revolution and mobilized fascist gangs for it, after 2016 it began direct attacks against the occupation. The victory over the fascist Daesh gangs has made the colonialists attack even more ruthlessly. One stage of this colonialist attack was the occupation of Afrin. For weeks, Afrin was bombed with the permission of the imperialists, tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their country and today the colonial occupation in Afrin is like a dagger on the ground in Rojava. The peoples of Rojava and their vanguard will smash this dagger sooner or later. But the colonialists cannot be satisfied, their gaze is directed to the area called "East of the Euphrates", to the east of Rojava. As we know from the previous occupations, this occupation will also face the will of the people, there is no doubt about that.
Self-government and self-defense are basic human rights
Another occupation attack by the fascist colonial regime is directed against southern Kurdistan. The colonial regime continuously bombarded South Kurdistan with its combat jets. It has been a de facto occupying power with its military bases there for years and has been trying to move forward on the ground for over a year, but faced with the enormous resistance of the guerrillas. The Kurdish people pay the bill for this war and this occupation through massacres, pain, crisis, unemployment, hunger, poverty and suicide through cyanide. As if that wasn't enough, they say: endure the dirty war, hunger, poverty, unemployment, suicides!
Erdogan and his AKP powers are trying to maintain their positions through an anti-Kurdish strategy. That means nothing other than leading society to civil war. Erdogan and the AKP regime have sacrificed the lives of thousands of Kurdish and Turkish youths to remain in power to increase the wealth they have gained through the exploitation of the work of our working and working peoples. They are ready for any attack and fraud.
It is about the Kurdish people's demand for equality and self-determination. Colonialism's answer to this was always massacres and occupation. This scene here, the charge against self-government resistance, shows how correct and legitimate this resistance was. The right of nations to self-determination must be treated as a legitimate, just demand within the framework of human rights. If this right is ruthlessly attacked, then self-government and self-defense are also a fundamental human right. When Saturday mothers ' struggle to find their children which were kidnapped and disappeared by the state and its gangs is violently prohibited; when the families of workers killed in labor murders seek justice and are hindered by kicks, batons and tear gas; if women are murdered every day after the patriarchal state and its courts have issued open checks to women's murderers; then self-government and self-defense is not just a right, it is more than that, a necessity. Erdogan and his AKP power, which do not even follow their own rules, have appointed trustees to incapacitate the elected by the people's will. The trustees were established accompanied by special units and the police. The will of millions has been declared invalid. This is an obvious coup. Of course our peoples and their vanguard will face this with resistance. Under these fascist conditions, in which society is completely under siege, there is no choice but to resist self-government and self stverteidigung. That is why our revolutionary struggle is just and legitimate because it contains human values.
You cannot stop the MLKP, it's the vanguard of millions
In all of these processes, the MLKP has and will continue to take its place with self-sacrificing resistance in Rojava as well as in Başur and Bakur. It was and is the focus of the attacks of the fascist-colonial dictatorship. If, as usual, their dirty palace media bark that they have "cleaned up" with us, our party will revive the tradition of resistance to the fascist dictatorship and continue on its way wherever oppression, exploitation and barbarism prevail.
The only truth that oppression and barbarism cannot obscure is that the moment of greatest darkness is also the moment closest to dawn. For this reason we say: "We are the future and the hope!"
For this reason, you cannot destroy our party, the MLKP, because we are the voice, the breath and the vanguard of the oppressed millions. I vehemently reject the term "terrorist organization" in the indictment. The entire history of our party has witnessed struggles for a genderless, equal, just and free world. The MLKP has taken its place in the scene of history in the name of the power of the working class.
In our practice you will not find a single action that has directed violence against uncertain targets or civilians and the peoples. If law enforcement wants to find terrorist organizations or terrorists, they don't have to look far. It is enough to look at the AKP, which plans and executes the massacre policies pursued by the state in Kurdistan and Turkey. The purpose of our life is to be a part of the revolutionary light, which is directed against the huge darkness even if with great effort. That is why a dignified attitude, despite the conditions of fascism, is the expression of our entire life. In concrete terms, it is important not to break the work that we have had gave great effots participating in, the comradeships we have build, the promises we have made, right down to the last moment.
With this in mind, we will resolutely continue our revolutionary struggle with great dignity and resilience. I have a life, I can lose that. But I will never lose my revolutionary life that I built with passion, happily and with love. With this dignity and pride, I end my words with the slogan "Long live the revolution, long live socialism" for a gender-free, equal, just and free world.

November 28, 2019